


Set Us Free

by SailorChibi



Series: Lovesquare Ficlet Collection 2019 [7]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs a Hug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Aged-Up Character(s), Angst and Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cat Puns, F/M, First Date, First Kiss, Fluff, Good Parents Sabine Cheng & Tom Dupain, Happy Ending, Identity Reveal, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi is a bitch, Lila Rossi salt, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Finds Out First, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Miraculous Side Effects, Miraculous Tendencies, Nicknames, Oblivious Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Post Reveal, Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain Ship It, Secret Identity Reveal, Supportive Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug), These two dorks, alya cesaire apologizes, conspicuous lack of nicknames, feelings are hard, lila rossi gets her comeuppance, pre reveal, we gotta make them hurt before they can be happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-11-09 02:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 35,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20846207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: It's the happiest day of Marinette’s life. Adrien finally asked her out and now they’re dating. It’s everything she’s wanted since she was fourteen.So why is she so frustrated and upset over the fact that Chat Noir seems to be pulling away?31 connected Fictober ficlets.





	1. Trust me, it’ll be fun

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t even know anymore. Here, have a blatant switch up of Smutember. You’re welcome.

Marinette was pretty sure this was the happiest day of her life so far. She clutched her hands to her chest and closed her eyes, mentally replaying every moment of pure joy.

“Marinette,” Tikki said.

“Yes, Adrien?” Marinette said dreamily.

Tikki sighed. “I’m not Adrien, and you’re… calling Alya again.”

She had tried to keep herself from calling Alya back. She _really_ did. But it didn’t work. Marinette had finally snapped, snatching her phone up, hitting Alya’s name and released an ear-splitting shriek into the speaker the second the line connected.

Tikki covered her ears and pointedly moved off the bed.

“Marinette! Oh my god, you’re going to make me deaf!” Alya yelled into the phone.

“I just can’t believe he asked me out!” Marinette squealed, wiggling from side to side out of pure glee.

“I know. So you’ve said… many times,” Alya said, laughing. “Girl, accept it. Our attempts to get Adrien Agreste to notice you have _finally_ paid off!”

In an instant, Marinette’s excitement vanished and she sobered. “But Alya - Alya this means I have to go on a _date_ with him. _Me_. Dating _Adrien_. I’m going to embarrass myself!”

“Hey now, you don’t know that,” Alya said.

Marinette pulled the phone back and, even if Alya couldn’t see it, gave the screen her best deadpan look. “Alya, last week I tripped over my own two feet and threw a bowl of soup all over Rose and Juleka.”

“… Okay, point,” Alya said.

“This is gonna be a disaster!” Marinette moaned.

“Don’t say that! It will be fun, trust me,” Alya said confidently. “Just be yourself… and maybe let Adrien carry the food and drinks.”

“Alya!” Marinette said, mortified, and Alya giggled.

“Seriously. You don’t need to freak out. You and Adrien are friends, remember? So just keep treating him like a friend. He’s just a boy, Mari. A very cute boy, but a boy nevertheless.”

Alya was right, Marinette knew. The problem was whether or not Marinette could convince herself of that and remember it enough to not completely freak out on the date. Thank goodness the date was still two days away and she had time to mentally prepare.

Tikki poked her head back up over the bed, clearly deciding it was safe, and pointed to the window. Marinette blinked blankly. Tikki rolled her eyes and mouthed ‘Chat’.

Chat?

Oh shit, Chat!

“Alya I gotta go I’m late!” Marinette blurted out, sitting up.

“Late for what?” Alya asked. “It’s almost midnight.”

“Uhhhh late for… for bed! Yeah, I’m trying to get to bed earlier cause I want to be wide awake for my date right? Haha!” Marinette gave a very forced, fake laugh.

Tikki facepalmed.

“Riiiiight,” Alya said slowly. “Okay… well, have a good sleep then.”

“Bye Alya!” Marinette hastily hung up and looked at Tikki. “I’m _so_ late, Tikki! Why didn’t you remind me sooner?!”

“I’ve been trying, but you keep calling Alya to scream at her and you couldn’t hear me,” Tikki said dryly.

“I hope Chat forgives me. Tikki, spots on!”

Ladybug scrambled up through the window and hastily took to the rooftops. She was well over half an hour later by the time she finally made it to their agreed upon meeting place. Naturally, Chat was already there and waiting.

“I’m so sorry!” Ladybug blurted out as she landed. “I lost track of time.”

“It’s okay,” Chat said with an easy smile. “Did something happen?”

Ladybug opened her mouth to tell him the wonderful news and then stopped. Chat was more than just her partner. He was her friend. And she couldn’t bear the thought of putting that sad look on his face when he heard that her crush had finally asked her out.

“I fell asleep,” she lied, her heart twisting with guilt. She hated lying in general, but she especially hated lying to Chat. There was already so much she couldn’t tell him. Did she really want to add another secret to that list?

They were both adults - well, sort of. Didn’t he deserve to know when something monumental happened to his partner? She started to reconsider, and was just about to tell him the truth, when Chat laughed.

“No worries. I was half asleep myself,” he said, rising nimbly to his feet and stretching. “Let’s make this a quick patrol. I think we could both use a good night’s sleep.”

“Sure,” Ladybug said, feeling even more guilty when she realized that her window to be honest had passed. And it made her feel even worse to know he’d been out here patiently waiting for her while she’d been in her comfortable bed squealing with Alya.

She’d tell him later, she decided. If the date with Adrien went well, she could casually drop it into conversation. One date didn’t really mean very much, after all. It was possible, maybe even likely, she and Adrien would go out once and then never go out again.

Or maybe he’d enjoy their date so much he’d immediately ask her out on a second one! They’d become boyfriend and girlfriend and eventually get married and have kids and -

“Uh, Ladybug?” Chat said, squinting at her. “Are you okay? You have a really weird smile on your face and it’s creeping me out.”

“What? Oh!” Ladybug quickly wiped what Alya had dubbed her ‘lovesick sunshine boy’ smile off her face.

“Are you sure you’re not too tired for this?” he asked doubtfully.

“I’m good. Great. Fabulous. Really,” Ladybug said, giving him a thumbs up. “Let’s go.”

Chat gave her another weird look, but slowly nodded. “Sure… Okay.”

“Okay,” Ladybug said, and wanted to slap herself as soon as he turned his back. God she really needed to figure out how to be cool before this date.


	2. Follow me, I know the area

When the bell _finally_ rang, Marinette had to bite back a squeal. The day had simultaneously flown by and dragged by, depending on whether her nerves were getting the best of her. She shot Alya a nervous, but excited look. Alya smiled back and gave Marinette’s hand a reassuring pat.

“Call me with all the details later,” she hissed at Marinette, then got up and joined Lila and Rose.

“You ready, Marinette?” Adrien asked, turning around to look at her.

Marinette nodded shyly, her heart fluttering. She could hardly believe this was finally happening. But as she collected her books and put them in her bag, she knew the evidence was irrefutable. She and Adrien were going on a date together.

Chloé had already left, out of the room like a shot the moment the bell rang. Thanks to Alya, and Nino when he closed the door behind them, Lila was distracted enough that Marinette and Adrien were able to slip out with no one else the wiser.

They headed separately to their lockers, then met up outside. Adrien waved at Nino as he and Marinette headed for the school gates, which was good because Marinette was pretty sure she could see Alya snapping pictures out of the corner of her eye. That was so embarrassing that she desperately hoped Adrien hadn’t noticed.

Adrien turned left outside the gates, away from the bakery, and she fell into step beside him. He seemed content to walk in silence. Marinette spent a couple minutes contemplating what her opening line should be before deciding on something simple.

“So, um, going where we are?” she asked, then wanted to facepalm.

Adrien’s forehead creased as he turned to her. “Sorry?”

Shit. Marinette took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She thought back to what Alya had said. Right. Adrien might have been _the_boy, but he was also _a_ boy. A boy who loved spending time with his friend and who didn’t love it when people made a big deal about him.

If she freaked out too much, she would ruin this. Adrien deserved better than that, and Marinette would never forgive herself. This was her one chance to make Adrien see the side of her that he could fall in love with. She had to make the most of it.

“I said, where are we going?” Marinette said in a slightly more reasonable tone.

“Oh! That’s a secret.” Adrien winked at her and grinned. “Follow me. I know the area.”

And then he grabbed her hand.

Adrien grabbed her hand.

_Adrien Agreste_ grabbed _Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s_hand.

She might have been screaming internally. Externally, she managed to smile and nod as Adrien began leading the way. As soon as his back was turned, her eyes dropped to the place where they were connected. His hand was warm and big. Hers was tiny by comparison. She stared at their joined hands in wonder.

“I was supposed to have Chinese practice today,” Adrien went on, and Marinette snapped to attention.

“Yeah, I know - err, I mean, did it get canceled?” she asked.

“My tutor is sick and my back-up tutor was busy… but Nathalie and my dad don’t know that.” Adrien smirked.

“So you’re playing hooky,” Marinette said, smiling back. At one point, that fact would’ve floored her.

But now she knew better. Adrien really was like any other overloaded teenager by heart. He took his free time wherever he could get it. And he got so little of it that she was truly touched that he wanted to spend some of it with _her_. It felt like an honor.

“Exactly. What they don’t know won’t hurt them… or me,” Adrien said. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.”

He had? Be still, her heart. It was racing so hard she thought it might explode out of her chest.

“Me too,” she breathed back when she realized he was waiting for her to speak.

Adrien shot her another heart-stopping grin and picked up the pace until he was almost running. Marinette kept up easily, even if she didn’t know where they were going. She was surprised when they stopped suddenly, and Adrien gestured grandly to a small shop.

“Ta-da!” he said happily.

“What is it?” Marinette asked uncertainly.

“It’s a sewing shop,” Adrien said proudly. “The owner sells fabric and other stuff. My father has bought stuff here before whenever something goes wrong at the last minute.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

“Yup. He’s got a couple places in Paris that are his go-to’s; I just didn’t know where they were. I managed to get this one out of Nathalie two weeks ago. I figured, if it’s good enough for Gabriel Agreste…” He trailed off and smiled hopefully at Marinette. Her heart melted.

“This is _amazing_,” Marinette said. “But… are you sure you wanna shop here now? On our date?”

“Yup,” Adrien said. He scuffed the ground. “Is that okay? I thought we could have supper after, but if you’d rather… I dunno… go see a movie, we can.”

“Are you _crazy_?!” Marinette exclaimed. “That’s more than okay!” She was so excited she rubbed her hands together. “I just don’t want you to be bored.”

Something in Adrien’s face softened. “Marinette, I’m never bored when I’m with you.”

Her stomach fluttered again, but her excitement overrode it. Marinette shook her head. “You might regret that after this,” she warned. “Alya says I have a one track mind when it comes to design. We could be here for a while.”

Adrien laughed lightly and moved to open the door. “I have all the time in the world,” he said, holding it open for her to enter.


	3. Now? Now you listen to me?

“What do you think?” Marinette asked, holding the two fabrics up for inspection. She was genuinely torn. Her money was only going to stretch so far, but she was in love with both and having a hell of a time deciding.

“Umm… they’re both nice?” Adrien said uncertainly, seemingly startled at being asked.

Marinette frowned at him. “Come on. I want your honest opinion.” She knee Adrien didn’t like design, but he was perfectly capable of helping her decide.

“Well…” Adrien looked at the two fabrics thoughtfully. “I guess… I think I like this color better. It would bring out your eyes.” He touched the pale blue fabric.

“O-oh? You think?” Marinette said, flushing slightly.

“The pink is nice too,” Adrien added quickly.

“No, you’re right. I’ll go with the blue,” Marinette said, turning to put the pink one down. She couldn’t help giving it a wistful pat goodbye. Maybe, if she was lucky, it would still be here when she got her allowance next week.

She smiled at Adrien and walked up front to pay. Along with the blue fabric, she’d also selected some new buttons, two different colored threads, and green fabric paint. The cost wasn’t _too_ bad, though her wallet was significantly lighter when she emerged outside.

Adrien wasn’t there. Marinette looked around in confusion - she could’ve sworn he’d come out here to wait for her - only to see him coming out of the shop a minute later. He was carrying a bag. Her eyes zeroed in on it, and the glint of pink material inside, instantly.

“What is that?” she said, putting her hands on her hips.

He pasted on an innocent look. “What’s what?” he asked, handing her the bag.

“Adrien! You didn’t have to buy this for me,” Marinette said. Sure enough, it was the pink fabric she’d been coveting - and tucked underneath was a sheath of both the green fabric she’d looked at earlier and some white lace she had been eyeing.

“But you liked all of it, and you’re going to make something amazing. Why shouldn’t you have it?” Adrien asked reasonably, looking at her with such earnestness that the lecture on Marinette’s tongue died a quick death.

“Thank you,” she said instead. “But I’m going to pay for our food.”

“Okay,” Adrien agreed with an easy smile, falling into step beside her.

He was too generous. Not just with his money, but with everything. It worried Marinette in ways she couldn’t put words to. Adrien had such a kind heart, and it would be too easy for someone to break it even if they didn’t mean to.

She sighed and smiled back. “So where should we go to eat?”

Adrien shrugged. “I was hoping you’d have a recommendation. I don’t get the chance to eat out a lot.”

“Let’s just walk and see what we find,” Marinette suggested. “I like window shopping. Sometimes you can find the best things… like that.”

She pointed to a store window. Adrien followed her gaze and saw that she was pointing to a bookbag. The words ‘Now? Now you listen to me?’ were stenciled across the front of it. Other merchandise in the window had similar wording and designs, but the bookbag made Marinette laugh.

“I have a friend who that would be perfect for,” she said fondly.

“Why? He doesn’t listen to you?” Adrien asked, looking at her curiously.

“Oh, he listens… but sometimes not until he absolutely has to,” Marinette said, smiling to herself as she remembered their last akuma attack. Chat had gotten them both dunked in the Seine. Sometimes his bad luck was a lot to handle, but she would never give him up.

“I can appreciate that. Sometimes some people just think they know it all,” Adrien said.

Marinette was a little offended until she saw the glint in his eyes and realized he was teasing her. The realization simultaenously flustered and warmed her. She _really_ liked the idea that Adrien trusted her enough to tease.

“Maybe those people really _do_ know it all and other people just aren’t smart enough to realize that,” Marinette said, sticking her nose in the air.

Adrien laughed. “Yeah, I’m _paws_-itively sure that’s the answer.”

She gave him a sly look and a smirk. “I’m just that _claw_-ver.”

“You like puns?” Adrien exclaimed, looking like Christmas had come early. His green eyes lit up with excitement and Marinette giggled.

“Yeah, sometimes,” she said. In the middle of an akuma battle? Not so much. When she was in a good mood? Well… “My dad loves puns too. I kind of grew up hearing them.”

“My dad _hates_ puns,” Adrien told her as they kept walking. “Like, considers them the lowest form of humor. He gets mad when I let one slip.”

“That’s very un-_fur_-tunate,” Marinette said. The more she heard about Gabriel Agreste, the further he slid from the pedestal in her mind. He just seemed like such a stern, unforgiving, cold man. How could someone like that have a son as wonderful as Adrien?

“Right?!” Adrien said. “Puns are _purr_-ty great if you ask me. People always have a reaction to them, whether it’s laughing or groaning. I love that.”

“Well, Alya hates puns too. So I’d be careful how much you pun around her,” Marinette said. “I’m not sure about Nino.”

“He’s gotten used to them,” Adrien said with a mischievous grin.

“Poor Nino,” Marinette said.

Adrien shrugged. “If I have to put up with all the details about his and Alya’s dates, he has to suffer my sense of humor.”

“Ugh, I feel you. Too much detail!” Marinette said, making an X with her arms. “If I have to listen to Alya talk about what a great _cat_-ch Nino is again, I’m gonna _fur_-get myself and _litter_-ally go _hiss_-terical.”

She was proud of herself for cramming four puns into one sentence until she caught sight of Adrien’s face. His expression was damn near worshipful, and Marinette found herself blushing again.

Honestly, Chat was a bad influence. He was the reason she had so many cat puns running through her brain. When you heard them enough, you couldn’t help but start to remember them. At this rate, she was actually going to have to thank that silly cat.

“You’re incredible,” Adrien said, softly but seriously, and Marinette’s blush deepened.

“Food!” she blurted out.

“What?”

“Food. At the café. There?” She pointed over his shoulder and Adrien turned to look. Marinette took the ten seconds during which he was distracted to try and wrestle herself back under _some_ degree of control.

“Oh! Yeah, it looks good. You wanna try there?” he asked, looking back at her.

Marinette nodded. “Yeah, let’s,” she said, face still warm. Maybe a cold drink would help to cool her off.


	4. I know you didn’t ask for this

“Seriously? _Seriously_?!” Chat burst out the second Ladybug hit the ground beside him.

“Umm… what?” Ladybug said, shying away and eyeing his flailing hands nervously.

Chat flailed harder. “Does Hawkmoth have no respect for our personal lives?! Does he even realize that he has the _shittiest timing ever_?”

“Well no, probably not,” Ladybug said. She’d been both frustrated and pissed off when the distinct sound of screaming broke into the delightful conversation she and Adrien had been having over cake.

She hadn’t wanted to respond, but she was Ladybug. No matter what else was going on, her duty to the city never changed. It had been a little bit easier when people had started fleeing the café and Adrien had ordered her to hide before taking off himself. She was too grateful for the opportunity to be able to transform to really question why they couldn’t hide together.

Chat’s frustration, oddly enough, softened the edges of her own. Ladybug sighed. “Look, I know you didn’t ask for this and neither did I. Let’s just… try to make it quick, yeah?”

He nodded with a fierce, intent expression she didn’t think she’d ever seen on his face before. He grabbed his baton and used it to launch himself into the air. Ladybug watched him go, curious. What could he have been doing that would illicit this kind of response from him?

“Ladybug, come on!” Chat shouted.

“Oh! Right.” She took her yo-yo in hand and followed him.

For once, the battle didn’t last long. Chat was unusually focused. He didn’t joke around or flirt with her like he usually did, and it left Ladybug feeling weirdly unsettled. She didn’t even realize she missed his dorky puns until the perfect moment for one passed by without Chat saying a word.

When the purified butterfly was flying back to wherever it had come from, Ladybug turned to look at her partner in bemusement. His attitude today was so unlike him that she couldn’t help wondering if something was wrong. He was holding out his fist for her to bump, but she refrained.

“Are you okay?” she asked as her miraculous beeped.

Chat shot her a puzzled look. “Yeah? Why?”

“You called me Ladybug,” she said, and she didn’t even know she was going to say that until she already had. But it was true. She could count on two hands the number of times that Chat had called her that. It was always ‘LB’, ‘My Lady’, ‘Bugaboo’, ‘Buginette’, ‘Bug’, or any of the other myriad of nicknames he had for her.

His puzzlement deepened. “It’s… your name? Well, one of them anyway.” He shook his fist pointedly.

Ladybug frowned but reached out to bump her fist against his. Her ‘_Bien joué_’ was much less enthusiastic than his was, but Chat didn’t seem to notice. He flashed her one of his typical charming grins.

“Until next time. See you!”

“What…?” Ladybug said to his back, shocked. Chat never left until he had to. He always lingered after battles, especially when he hadn’t used his Cataclysm like today. She was almost always the one who left first.

Her miraculous beeped again and she hurried off herself, confused and, if she was being honest, a little hurt. She made it to a quiet, private corner of a street and detransformed in a flash of red light.

“Marinette? What’s wrong?” Tikki asked.

“Umm… nothing,” Marinette said, fetching a cookie from her purse and handing it to her kwami.

Because what could she say? So Chat had been a little off during one fight. And now that she thought about it, he’d been off during their last patrol too. But that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Everyone had bad days sometimes. God knew she and Chat had way more pressure on their shoulders than the average person.

“You don’t look like it’s nothing. You look upset,” Tikki said.

Marinette shook her head. “It’s nothing, really,” she said with a smile, deciding not to worry about it. Surely Chat would be back to his usual wisecracking, flirty, nicknaming self by their patrol tomorrow night.

Tikki didn’t look convinced, but finally nodded. “You should hurry up. Adrien is probably waiting for you by now.”

“Oh my god, Adrien!” Marinette clapped her hands to her face. “I forgot!”

She immediately rushed towards the end of the street and turned right. The café was only a couple blocks over, but half a street down Marinette heard a familiar voice calling her name. She slowed and turned to see Adrien running towards her.

“You’re okay!” he exclaimed. “I’m so glad.”

“I’m fine,” Marinette said, surreptitiously scanning him. Much to her relief, he looked okay too. Today’s akuma had been more about destruction than anything, and she’d spent most of the battle lowkey worried that Adrien hadn’t gotten out of the area.

“That’s good.” Adrien caught his breath and smiled. “That was quite the akuma, huh?”

“I didn’t really get a good look at it,” Marinette lied. “I’m not like Alya. I don’t run towards akumas.”

Adrien laughed. “I’m really happy to hear that. I think Nino’s had several heart attacks because of Alya doing that.”

Marinette’s heart beat a little faster. Nino and Alya were boyfriend and girlfriend. Was that how Adrien saw them? Was that what he wanted them to be?

“I always tell Nino he’s gonna have grey hairs by the time he’s thirty,” Adrien went on.

“I always wondered why he never takes his hat off,” Marinette replied, which just made Adrien laugh harder.

“I’ll have to remember to say that to him,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “So… I guess our date got ruined.”

Marinette shook her head. “Not ruined. I had a lot of fun. And I got something to remember it by,” she added, holding her bags of fabric up.

“I had fun too,” Adrien said. He seemed pleased, even as he looked at her uncertainly. “Do you… maybe wanna go out again?”

“Yes!” Marinette said, thrilled. “I’d love to.”

“Great. I’ll have to look at what my schedule is like, but I’ll text you.” He smiled again. “Can I walk you home?”

“Sure,” she said, her heart racing with glee. Even in spite of the akuma, he’d enjoyed the date enough to want to go out again! She was so happy she could’ve flown home.

Adrien walked her to the bakery, where they both stood awkwardly. Marinette clenched her fingers around her bags, adrenaline and nerves making her antsy. Would he kiss her? Should she try to kiss him? Was it too soon for that?

“Thanks a lot for going out with me,” Adrien said finally.

“Anytime,” Marinette said, meaning it. Before she could second-guess herself too much, she darted forward and leaned up to kiss his cheek - just like she had after the disaster that was Heroes’ Day.

But this time, Adrien’s eyes widened. He stared at her for a moment before he blushed, pink spreading across his cheeks. Marinette memorized the adorable image that was Adrien Agreste blushing (because of _her_!) as she backed towards the bakery’s door.

“Goodnight, Adrien,” she said.

Adrien looked at her with something soft and indefinable in his expression. “Good night, Marinette.”


	5. I might just kiss you.

“I win! Yes!” Chat’s black boots hit the rooftop mere seconds before Ladybug’s. He let out a boisterous cheer and Ladybug winced, hoping that no one around them had heard. The last thing they needed was a cranky Parisian getting akumatized in the middle of the night because they were being too loud.

She put her hands on her hips and scowled at him. “Once. You won _once_.”

“I’ll have you know I’ve won 57 times out of 120,” Chat said smugly, throwing his arms up and wiggling his hips in a dance that was as obnoxious as it was ridiculous.

“You’re keeping count? From when?” Ladybug said, refusing to acknowledge the dance. They raced all the time. Surely their total count was well over 120 by now.

He shrugged and grinned, still dancing. “From the start of the month.”

“I’m still in the lead, then,” she pointed out.

“For now,” Chat said with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes at him and took a seat on the rooftop, inwardly pleased when he stopped his silly dancing and sat down beside her. Things seemed a little more relaxed between them now than it had during the battle, but she couldn’t help thinking that he was still off.

He wasn’t flirting. He wasn’t trying to kiss her hand or wrap his tail around her waist. He wasn’t leaning against her or draping an arm over her shoulder or resting his head against her back. He hadn’t called her by a nickname all night. Ladybug literally could not remember the last time she’d gone more than a day without being called ‘My Lady’.

She bit her lip, silently weighing her options. They didn’t talk about their personal lives too much. They couldn’t get too detailed. In some ways, Chat knew more about her than anyone. In others, he knew nothing. That made it hard to share sometimes. But still… surely it wouldn’t hurt to ask?

“Are you okay?” she asked, pulling her knees up to her chest. She stared out over the city, watching the lights.

“Well, I mean, I’m cold and a little tired because it’s after midnight, but -”

“Not really what I meant,” Ladybug said wryly. “I just mean…” She trailed off, hesitating, and met his gaze when they looked at each other at the same time.

“What?” Chat asked. His expression filled with concern the longer she remained silent.

Because what could she say? It would be way too awkward to tell him that she missed the nicknames, or that she didn’t get why he wasn’t touching her anymore. Chat didn’t even seem to realize that anything had changed, so maybe she was just blowing things out of proportion? Would it make things worse to say something?

“Hey, are _you_ okay?” Chat said, leaning in closer to her. “Is something wrong?” He was so worried that she exhaled loudly and shook her head.

“No. No, everything is fine,” she said.

He frowned. “Are you sure? You’ve been kind of weird over the past couple of days.”

“I have? I didn’t notice,” Ladybug said, surprised. Maybe that explained it. Maybe_ she_ was being weird because of Adrien, and she hadn’t realized that Chat had picking up on that and adjusting his behavior accordingly. Maybe they were _both_ being weird.

Chat shrugged, apparently deciding that he was going to let it go, and leaned back until he was laying on the roof and staring up at the sky. Ladybug glanced down at him. This would probably be a really good time to tell him about Adrien. It would explain why she’d been acting differently, and knowing Chat he’d probably be happy for her…

“Can I practice something on you?” Chat said suddenly.

Ladybug blinked. The moment was gone. She sighed. “Sure.”

He sat up again, uncustomarily nervous - his twitching tail gave him away. “Okay. I just need to see how this sounds to someone other than my kwami. It’s not directed at you, I swear.”

“Okay…” Ladybug said slowly.

“I might just kiss you. What would you think about that?” Chat asked, looking her right in the eyes. Her breath caught. His green eyes were so intent. His windswept blond hair fell acorss his forehead, black kitty ears sitting up in a state of readiness. His expression was so earnest… so familiar…

“What?” she whispered.

Chat grimaced, breaking the moment. “That was weird, wasn’t it? Yeah, it was weird.” He answered himself. He let out a groan and scrubbed his hands through his hair. “I’m never going to figure this out! Who knew this stuff was so hard?”

Ladybug didn’t answer him. Couldn’t. Her brain was completely blank.

“I’ll have to keep trying, I guess. Thanks for not laughing. Even after I bribed him with Camembert, all Plagg did was laugh at me. He says my lines suck,” Chat said with a sigh and a self-depreciating grin.

“Corny,” Ladybug said belatedly, realizing he was, again, waiting for her to answer. It was the only word she could think of, but fortunately Chat accepted it as an answer.

“Right. Corny.” Chat screwed his face up. “Okay. I’m calling it a night. Seems I have some research to do. Night, Ladybug!” He jumped up and ran to the edge of the rooftop, leaping off. In mere seconds, he’d blended seamlessly into the darker shadows.

Ladybug watched him go, still shocked. It was at least another minute or two before her brain suddenly kicked into high gear as the full realization of the situation finally dawned on her. If that hadn’t been directed at her, and Chat was just using her as a sounding board… then who _was_ it meant for?

Who the hell was Chat trying to kiss?


	6. Yes, I'm aware. Your point?

Marinette sat on her bed with her Chat Noir doll on her lap and her comforter wrapped around her shoulders. She stared down at the doll’s glassy green eyes, wishing that it could magically come to life and give her some answers… but knowing her luck, the doll would be just as confusing and contrary as the real Chat Noir.

“It’s almost time for you to get up for school,” Tikki said from where she was watching Marinette. “You haven’t slept all night.”

“Yes, I’m aware. Your point?” Marinette said without looking up. 

“You’re going to be a wreck at school today,” Tikki said, but there was no real admonition in her tone. She crawled up the pillow and into Marinette’s little nest, making herself comfortable beside the doll.

“I just couldn’t sleep,” Marinette whispered.

“What are you thinking about?” Tikki asked, as though she didn’t already know.

“Chat. Adrien.” Marinette leaned her head back against the wall, looking up through the skylight at the brightening sky. The two most important boys in her life had apparently paired up to give her _all the confusing feelings_ at once.

First there was Adrien. Their date together had been so much fun, and the promise of another one made Marinette feel warm to her core. She’d also noticed that Adrien had been a lot more attentive towards her lately. It had started right before he asked her out, and hadn’t stopped since. It was everything she’d always wanted and it made her want to squeal with joy every time.

But then there was Chat. Honestly, she’d spent most of the night trying to figure out who he wanted to kiss if not Ladybug. And then chastising herself for trying to figure it out, because to know who Chat was interested in would probably mean knowing who Chat was. And then getting mad at herself because she didn’t know _why_ it mattered so much!

“You’re jealous,” Tikki said knowingly, and Marinette sputtered a little.

“I - I am not!” she said, blushing.

Tikki giggled. “Oh, Marinette. You’re _totally_ jealous that Chat is interested in kissing other girls.”

“I’m totally _not_,” Marinette said. “I have Adrien. Besides, Chat has always been a tomcat. He flirts with everyone, remember?” 

“That may be, but he’s only ever been in love with you,” Tikki pointed out. “Besides, isn’t this a good thing? It means that Chat might be moving on with someone else. That leaves you free to pursue Adrien without worrying about breaking Chat’s heart. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?”

“I guess,” Marinette said unenthusiastically, unable to put her finger on why the thought of Chat with someone else made her feel so funny.

“It’s not fair to expect Chat to wait forever,” Tikki added. “He deserves to have someone just like you do. And if you don’t love him, you can’t blame him for finding that someone somewhere else.”

“I _know_,” Marinette snapped. “I’ve been thinking the same thing all night, Tikki. I just -”

“Just what?” Tikki prompted gently.

“I think… I think I’m afraid of losing Chat,” Marinette said, realizing as she spoke that it was the truth. “His civilian life is already so busy. What if he gets a girlfriend and he no longer has time for me anymore?” Her heart ached at the thought.

She may not have liked Chat _that_ way, but he was her best friend. Ranked right up there with Alya. The idea of losing him was too awful to contemplate.

“Marinette, that’s silly. You’re Chat’s partner. He’ll always have time for you,” Tikki said. “You won’t have any less time for him now that you’re dating Adrien, right?”

“No,” Marinette said slowly, though she wasn’t wholly convinced. Her life was busy too, sure, but she didn’t have the kind of father to deal with that Chat did. 

Plus, she knew what Chat was like. He was such a foolish romantic, always with his head up in the clouds. Whatever he was doing, he committed himself to it whole-heartedly. She chewed her lower lip, picturing future patrols where Chat canceled on her because he had plans with his girlfriend. He’d never shirk his duty, of course, but…

“Then Chat wouldn’t do that either. And unless you want to be the one dating him, you really have no say in what he does.”

“I told you, I’m not interested in him that way,” Marinette said impatiently. “I have Adrien.”

Tikki gave her a look and said, “You _can_ like two boys at once, Marinette. Your whole heart doesn’t have to be devoted to just one person.”

“Well, I don’t,” Marinette said stubbornly. She didn’t like Chat that way. 

Sure he was cute in a dorky kind of way, and he’d proven that he would do anything for her. He could be really sweet, even if he could also be kind of a sulky brat sometimes. He had a good sense of humor, though a bad sense of timing. And he didn’t always take akumas as seriously as she wanted him to, but he was _always _there for when she needed him.

She frowned more intensely down at the doll. Okay, maybe she could admit that if Adrien wasn’t in the picture, she might’ve been interested in Chat. They did work well together, and sometimes the silly things he did could make her heart skip a beat. 

But none of that mattered. Because Adrien _was _in the picture, and he was finally interested in giving Marinette a shot. It was everything she’d been dreaming of for so long. When she thought about all the nights she’d spent wondering if Adrien was going to start dating someone else… it had hurt so much. Too much. 

“Right,” Tikki said skeptically, and Marinette looked at her with a frown.

“You don’t believe me?”

“Not even a little bit,” Tikki replied.

“Tikki! That’s mean,” Marinette said, pouting. “Don’t you think I know my own heart?”

“I think you have no idea that you’re going to be late for school.”

“What?” Marinette glanced at her phone and let out a shriek when she saw the time. She threw the Chat Noir doll aside and scrambled down the ladder, all thoughts of boys cast aside.

For now, anyway.


	7. No, and that’s final.

On Saturday morning Marinette got up early. Adrien had asked her if she wanted to go to a small craft fair that was being set up in the park. Naturally, she’d immediately said yes. He was putting so much thought into their dates, choosing things he knew she’d like. She was going to have to start stepping up soon and planning some dates too.

“How do I look, Tikki?” Marinette asked, after giving her appearance one last critical look. She was wearing a green shirt, a black denim skirt, green tights, and black boots.

“Very nice,” Tikki said. “I like your hair.”

“Thanks!” Marinette finally smiled at her reflection. She was wearing her hair down today, held back from her face by a green headband.

She grabbed a black purse and her black jacket and motioned Tikki inside, then snuck down the stairs. Miraculously, she made it downstairs and outside without either of her parents noticing. The last thing she wanted was for both of them to grill her for details; they both knew darn well where she was heading and who she was meeting, but they liked to tease.

Adrien was waiting for her by the entrance to the park, wearing a black jacket and - her heart fluttered - the blue scarf she’d knit for him around his neck. It looked really good on him if she did say so herself. The soft blue color made his eyes look even greener.

Said eyes widened at her approach. Adrien opened and closed his mouth a few times before saying, in a funny voice, “H-hi.”

“Hi,” Marinette said.

“You look, um. Really pretty,” Adrien said quietly. “Chat Noir colors?”

“Huh? Oh. I guess so,” Marinette said, looking down at her outfit. She hadn’t done that on purpose, but now that she thought about it Adrien was right.

Adrien took a deep breath before holding his hand out. “Shall we?”

“Sure,” Marinette said, inwardly beaming as she took his hand. She was wearing green gloves, but his bare fingers were cold. She wondered if maybe she should use some of the fabric he’d bought for her to knit him gloves. Or maybe he’d prefer blue gloves to match his scarf…

“I almost had to cancel on you today,” Adrien said as they walked into the park. “My father didn’t want me to go out.”

“Why not?” Marinette asked.

“Dunno. He gets like that sometimes. All ‘Adrien, I said no and that’s final’.” Adrien deepened his voice exaggeratedly. “So I snuck out. He thinks I’m practicing piano.” He grinned.

“Won’t you get in trouble?” Marinette said worriedly. As much as she loved spending time with him, she didn’t want Adrien’s already tight schedule to get even worse.

But Adrien shook his head and said, “Nah, it’s fine. He went to his office to work on some designs. He won’t surface for hours. And I know Nathalie is behind on paperwork. Both of them will be busy until at least supper time. I just have to make sure I’m back by like, four.”

“Okay,” Marinette said, deciding to take his word for it. It was only ten in the morning, so they had a whole _six hours _to spend together. She bit back a delighted squeal.

They walked around the craft fair for a while, looking at all of the booths. There were so many and they were all selling a variety of things. Sometimes Marinette felt a twinge when she passed by a booth selling things that she knew she was capable of making: it would be really cool to have her own booth, but she just didn’t have the time. Maybe if she wasn’t Ladybug…

“Oh!” Adrien said suddenly, coming to such an abrupt stop that Marinette was jerked to a stop too.

“What?” she asked in surprise, following his gaze and realizing that he was looking at a booth was selling a bunch of Ladybug and Chat Noir merchandise.

“Do you mind?” Adrien asked sheepishly.

“Not at all,” Marinette said, curious herself. As they stepped up to the booth, she saw that there was even some Carapace, Rena Rouge and Queen Bee merchandise. She shook her head, knowing that must’ve sent Chloé’s ego through the roof.

Adrien was looking through the piles of Ladybug merchandise, which covered the bulk of the table. Marinette had kind of gotten used to seeing things with her face on them, but it was still weird. She poked through the Rena Rouge stuff until she found a little Rena Rouge action figure. It was about three inches tall and adorable.

“You like Rena Rouge?” Adrien asked, glancing at her.

“Alya does,” Marinette said with a private smile. “She’s got so much Ladybug stuff already. I thought something Rena Rouge would be nice.”

Adrien smiled too. “That’s nice of you. I have a lot of Ladybug stuff too.” He said it casually, like it was a known fact. Marinette choked a little.

“Oh, uh, you like Ladybug?” she said, working hard to keep her voice normal.

“Nino likes to say that I _more_ than like her,” Adrien said. Then he froze as he, presumably, remembered he was talking to his date. “U-umm, I mean -”

“It’s okay. Alya tells me all the time that over half the city has a crush on Ladybug,” Marinette said quickly, her cheeks warm. That meant Adrien liked _both_ sides of her. Sure it was probably just a celebrity crush on Ladybug, but still!

Adrien looked relieved. “Yeah, I’ve heard her say that too. Ladybug is pretty awesome,” he said softly, with a fond smile.

He thought she was awesome! Marinette wanted to swoon. She kept herself in control with difficulty; luckily, Adrien turned back to the table and so missed her completely goofy grin that stretched from ear to ear. He surely would’ve wondered why she was so happy that he liked Ladybug.

“I wonder if I should get something of Carapace for Nino. He really likes Carapace,” Adrien said.

Marinette tried not to giggle. “You could. Or maybe Chat Noir. He’s pretty cool too.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Adrien said, enthusiasm noticeably dimming. “He’s okay.”

“What, you don’t like him?” Marinette said.

Adrien shrugged. “Like I said, he’s okay. He doesn’t really do much, though.”

Marinette’s mouth fell open. “Excuse me?”

“Well… he can be replaced by these other teammates, right?” Adrien said, gesturing to the table. “There’s even some new miraculous holders who aren’t here, like Viperion and Ryuuko. Ladybug’s got a lot to choose from. She’s the one who matters. Chat’s lucky she puts up with him.”

He turned around as he spoke and immediately recoiled. Marinette didn’t know what her face looked like, but Adrien visibly gulped as she leaned forwards. He was taller than she was even in her boots, but at the moment she loomed over him.

“Chat Noir is _amazing_,” Marinette said, every word clipped as she stared Adrien down. “He is Ladybug’s partner. Not her teammate. Her _partner_. The _only_ partner. The only _irreplaceable_ partner who is very good at what _he_ does, and who helps to make Ladybug what _she_ is. Got it?”

“Yes,” Adrien said quickly. “Yup. Got it.”

“Good.” Marinette narrowed her eyes a little more, holding out for another couple seconds so he could see how serious she was.

Then she spun away and grabbed some Chat Noir merchandise at random, thrusting it at the vendor - who looked like he was trying not to laugh. Marinette paid for her purchases, including Alya’s Rena Rouge doll, and then stood quietly aside while Adrien paid for his.


	8. Can you stay?

Adrien didn’t look at her as he moved away from the booth. Marinette found she couldn’t look at him either. She was filled with a strange mixture of guilt and stubbornness. On the one hand, she felt bad for scolding Adrien. On the other hand, she wasn’t going to stand for anyone trash talking her partner.

They walk to the next couple of booths, but Marinette barely saw what they had to offer. She couldn’t figure out if she should apologize or not. The longer the silence dragged on, the more she thought she should. She didn’t want to ruin the rest of their date.

So finally, she said, “I’m sorry.”

“What?” Adrien said, sounding surprised.

Marinette glanced at him. “For yelling at you.”

Adrien stopped walking and turned to face her. “Marinette, you don’t have to apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t even yell at me. Actually, you barely raised your voice and that made you _way_ scarier than if you had been yelling.” He gave a small smile.

“I’m still sorry,” Marinette insisted, though she felt better that Adrien didn’t seem to be mad.

“Fine. Then I’m sorry too. I forget that some people actually like Chat Noir,” Adrien said, dropping his gaze and shuffling his feet. “Everyone is always so focused on Ladybug.”

Marinette pursed her lips, because he wasn’t wrong. The majority of the attention and accolades went to Ladybug because she was the one who could purify butterflies and use the miraculous cure. Chat had always told her that he was okay with that, but sometimes she didn’t know if that was true.

“People who can’t see how great Chat is are dumb,” Marinette said at last. “I’ve met him a couple times. He’s a really good person.”

“You’ve met him?” Adrien repeated.

“Yup. And I can see how hard he tries. He’s always the one to boost Ladybug up even when she feels down,” Marinette went on. “So… don’t say anything bad about him, okay? I’d hate to have to whisper-yell at you again.”

Adrien smiled and saluted her. “No more bad words about Chat Noir, got it.”

“Good,” Marinette said, giggling. Adrien was such a dork sometimes. She liked those moments, silly as they could be. They were a reminder that he was letting her see the _real_ Adrien Agreste, not the model or mask that most people knew.

“Wanna grab some food?” Adrien asked, gesturing to the small collection of food trucks.

Marinette’s smile widened. “I’d love to.”

They got some snacks to share and sat at the picnic tables. When Adrien’s head was turned, Marinette snuck a couple of bites to Tikki. At one point Adrien almost caught her sliding a cookie into her purse, and at another she could’ve sworn she saw Adrien sneaking cheese into his shirt pocket, but overall it was a very nice meal… until the end of it, anyway.

“Ooh, deep fried cookies!” was all Marinette heard before her last bite was swiped. She sputtered in indignation and looked up in time to see her fork disappearing into Alya’s mouth.

“Alya!” Marinette squealed. “That was the best part!”

“Mm, so good,” Alya moaned.

Nino sat down beside Adrien. “Hey Dudes. What’s up?”

“I’m gonna murder your girlfriend,” Marinette said darkly, glaring at her so-called best friend. Alya gave her a chocolately grin back.

“You do what you gotta do,” Nino said.

“Thanks honey,” Alya said dryly, dropping into the seat beside Marinette.

“Hey, I learned a long time ago never to stand between a woman and chocolate,” Nino said sagely.

“You’re not wrong,” Adrien said, eyeing Marinette and Alya warily, like he expected to see a fight emerge.

“I’ll buy you popcorn,” Alya said, holding her hands up placatingly.

Marinette considered and begrudgingly nodded. “Fine.”

“We’re going to the movies?” Adrien said, perking up.

“We came over to ask if you wanted to. Can you stay?” Nino asked, stealing one of Adrien’s leftover fries.

“For a while.” Adrien glanced at Marinette and raised his eyebrows in silent query. Marinette didn’t know how, but she instantly knew he was asking if she wanted to go to the movies with Alya and Nino or if she wanted to do something with just the two of them. And somehow she also knew that Adrien was okay with either option, so the ball was in her court.

But _how_ did she know that? Marinette pondered that for a second, puzzled. It was almost like the silent communication she and Chat had developed; they knew each other so well that they could have whole conversations through expression and body language alone. But she didn’t know Adrien nearly that well.

“Mari?” Alya prompted. “What do you think?”

“Oh! The movies sound good,” Marinette said, snapping out of her thoughts. She knew Alya had been dying to go on a double date with her, Adrien and Nino for a long time.

And honestly, it sounded like fun to Marinette too. For once she and Adrien wouldn’t be the awkward third and fourth wheels to Alya’s and Nino’s date. For once, it would be a real double date with two happy couples.

“Great!” Nino said happily. “It starts in twenty minutes, so we should get going.”

They all got up. No sooner had Marinette disposed of her trash than Adrien reached for her hand again. She took it, meeting Alya’s eyes as she did. Alya grinned excitedly and gave her a wink.

They walked to the movie theatre and paid for their tickets and popcorn. This time, Marinette wasn’t stuck at the end of the row alone while Alya and Nino cuddled in the middle. Their order went Nino, Alya, Marinette and then Adrien.

“Wait, is this a scary movie?” Marinette said suddenly, examining her ticket. She _knew_ the title sounded familiar.

“Yup,” Alya said gleefully. She dropped her voice. “Plenty of chance for you to play the scared girlfriend and clutch at your boyfriend. You’re welcome.”

“Alya,” Marinette hissed, blushing.

Alya just giggled.


	9. There’s a certain taste to it.

As it turned out, Alya was both wrong and right. She and Adrien did get the chance to cuddle a bit, but it wasn’t because of Marinette. She didn’t really like scary movies, but she wasn’t afraid of them. Adrien, on the other hand, was clutching her arm so tightly that Marinette was losing feeling in her hand.

“Why are they going into that house?!” he hissed in her ear.

“It’s a horror film. The characters are designed to be stupid,” Marinette whispered back, barely refraining from rolling her eyes as the characters entered the old, decrepit home.

“But they’re going to die!” Adrien said, his eyes wide.

He, along with everyone else in the theatre, jumped when the murderer burst out of a hidden trap door instead of out of the closet. Several people screamed, which covered up the sound of Adrien’s alarmed squeak from everyone but Marinette.

“I don’t like this,” he said, shrinking down in his seat.

Marinette glanced over at him and immediately knew this had been a mistake. Unlike Alya and Nino, who were thoroughly enjoying the experience of being terrified, Adrien looked genuinely scared. He was pale and tense. She made a quick decision and leaned over to Alya.

“We’re bowing out,” she said into Alya’s ear. “I’m not enjoying this at all.”

“But Mari, you’re missing out on prime cuddling opportunity!” Alya said.

Marinette just shook her head. “We’ll see you later.”

She turned back to Adrien just in time to see him flinch again. When he noticed that she was watching him, he quickly straightened up and plastered on a wobbly smile. Marinette wasn’t fooled a bit. She stood up and, because of his tight grip on her arm, Adrien was pulled up too.

“Go that way,” she whispered, quickly ushering him to right. She muttered apologies as they shuffled over, finally reaching the aisle. Just as they got to the door, the audience screamed again and Adrien jumped, then scooted so close to Marinette that she almost tripped.

She patted his hands comfortingly as they emerged back into the theatre, heading for the exit. Luckily, it was still sunny out and the temperature had risen a few degrees. It was literally a night and day difference from the scene in the movie.

“Sorry,” Adrien said as the door swung shut behind them. “You didn’t have to leave. I could’ve sat through it.”

“Adrien, the point of our dates is for us to have _fun _together. I don’t think either one of us found that fun,” Marinette said reasonably, pulling him down onto a bench. He was still clutching her arm, but she wasn’t about to protest that.

He made a face. “I know. But I feel silly for getting scared.”

“Scary movies aren’t for everyone. Some people don’t like to be scared,” Marinette said. She wrinkled her nose. “There’s… a certain taste to it, I guess. You have to be someone who enjoys it.”

“And you don’t?” Adrien asked, looking at her sideways.

“Not really. With Hawkmoth around, there’s enough scary stuff in real life,” Marinette said dryly. Take away the creepy music, the eerie atmosphere, and the collective reactions from other movie-goers, and the movie really hadn’t been that scary. The murderer was laughable compared to some of the akumas she and Chat had faced, not that she could tell Adrien that.

He smiled a little and finally loosened his grip. “I guess you have a point about that. I’ve never seen a horror movie before.”

“Never?!” Marinette said in disbelief.

Adrien reddened. “Well… my father doesn’t like it when I watch television. I have one in my room, but he says it’s a pointless waste of time. So I don’t usually do it unless he’s not around.”

That definitely sounded like Gabriel. Marinette frowned. “I wish you’d told me. I definitely would’ve suggested we see something else. That movie has been toted as the scariest one all year.”

“It was interesting,” Adrien said. “Besides, I couldn’t be too scared. I had our everyday Ladybug to protect me.” He smiled at Marinette this time and let go of her arm, only to reach down, take her hand and twine their fingers together.

Her stomach fluttered. Marinette swallowed, wishing she’d brought her drink with her because her mouth was suddenly really dry. Sitting there in the sunshine with him, it felt like she and Adrien were the only two people in the world.

“I’ll always be there to protect you,” she said quietly. It was the only thing she could think of to say. And it was the truth, even if Adrien might never know just _how_ true it was.

Well, hopefully not _never_. Marinette frowned at the thought. Surely someday Hawkmoth would be defeated and she would be able to tell Adrien the truth. She didn’t want to have to hide something that momentous from him forever, especially if their relationship got really serious. It was bad enough she couldn’t tell him now, and that their relationship was starting off based on a lie.

“Marinette?” Adrien said, and she looked up at him. He suddenly seemed closer. His green eyes were so very intent, windswept bangs falling across his forehead.

“Yes?” Marinette whispered. A pang of familiarity went through her, almost like she’d been here before, but that was all swept away when she heard what Adrien said next.

“Would it be okay if I, um… if I kissed you?” Adrien asked. He was nervous, she could tell. His hand was sweaty.

Seeing that, she grew a little calmer and managed to nod without screaming ‘YES!’ at the top of her lungs, which was what she really wanted to do. She was pretty sure doing so would’ve scared Adrien off, though. And she would die if he stopped right now.

She held her breath as Adrien leaned in, and so did she, and finally their lips brushed together. Tingles ran down Marinette’s spine. She was again seized by a strong sense of familiarity as they simultaneously pulled away, looking at each other.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” Adrien asked softly.

“Yes,” Marinette breathed, and was rewarded by the most beautiful smile she’d ever seen.

“Can I kiss you again?” Adrien said, already leaning towards her.

“You don’t have to keep asking,” Marinette told him, eagerly kissing him for a second time. Even these short, chaste kisses made her feel like she could conquer the whole world.

They sat and kissed and talked for a while, until the movie let out and Alya and Nino came out. Marinette had already decided that she wasn’t going to tell their friends the truth. They didn’t need to know how scared Adrien had gotten.

Not that it mattered. Alya could immediately tell something had changed. Her eyes darted from the matching grins on Marinette’s and Adrien’s faces, to their intertwined fingers, before going back up to zero in on Marinette. Marinette gave her a subtle nod and Alya grinned at her.

“Details later,” she mouthed at Marinette.

Marinette nodded again, hardly able to contain her joy. She couldn’t wait to get Alya alone. Finally, she would have something to talk about when it came to kissing boys! And kissing one very cute boy in particular. She couldn’t stop smiling as they headed for the mall.


	10. Listen, I can’t explain it, you’ll have to trust me.

Yoyoing across Paris had never felt better. Ladybug was still flying high after her date with Adrien that day. Shortly before they had to part, he’d walked her back to the bakery again. This time, in the shadows of the alley, they’d kissed a few more times before parting.

Naturally, she’d immediately gone upstairs to her room to call Alya and squeak about the fact that she’d _finally_ gotten the chance to kiss Adrien - and to confirm that yes, it had been well worth the wait.

She landed on a rooftop and giggled to herself, pressing her hands to her chest. The feel of his lips, the way his eyes had sparkled, the weight of his hands on her shoulders… she couldn’t help wiggling as the memories washed over her again.

“You look happy.”

Ladybug swung around to face her partner. Chat was leaning casually against his baton, head cocked slightly. His kitty ears were swiveled in her direction, like he thought he might miss something she said. He looked every inch the focused kitty.

“I am happy,” Ladybug said with another giggle. “Very happy! I went -”

She paused mid-sentence, suddenly remembering that she had not told Chat about her date. And while she could lie and tell him that she was happy about a grade or something like that, the thought left a sour taste at the back of her throat.

“You went where?” Chat prompted, straightening up. She’d really caught him now; he was in full curious cat mode and wouldn’t rest until she gave him a satisfactory answer.

Ladybug bit her lip, then mentally shrugged and went for it. “I went on a date, actually. With the guy I have a crush on.”

Okay, maybe she wasn’t be _totally_ honest. She didn’t just have a crush on Adrien. She was in love with him. But Chat didn’t need to know the depths of her feelings. That seemed a little mean.

Chat blinked, obviously surprised. “Really? And I’m guessing it went well.”

“It went really well. We kissed and he asked me to be his girlfriend,” Ladybug admitted, watching him closely.

“Ah, no wonder you were standing there laughing to yourself,” Chat teased.

She blushed. “In my defense, I didn’t know you were standing right behind me.”

Chat chuckled and shook his head, retracting his baton. He didn’t seem upset, which honestly surprised her. Not that she wanted him to be, but he’d always been so insistent that the two of them were meant to be together.

To the point where sometimes she got a little frustrated with his attitude. She didn’t belong to him; she was perfectly capable of choosing who her heart belonged to, and it wasn’t Chat. She’d almost thought there might be tears, or even another love confession, when she told him about her date.

Instead, Chat was smiling slightly as he came to stand beside her. “Since we’re confessing things, I went out on a date with someone too.”

Ladybug froze, staring at him in stunned disbelief.

“It’s this girl from my class,” Chat went on, seemingly unaware of her paralyzation. “She’s always been a friend of mine but lately… I dunno. My best friend told me a couple weeks ago that she has a crush on me and it just… it made me look at her differently.”

“Really,” Ladybug croaked out. She didn’t know why this was so shocking. Considering that Chat had been trying out a pick-up line a few days ago, it was the next logical step. But Chat must’ve taken her reaction the wrong way, because he sighed.

“Listen, I can’t explain it, you’ll have to trust me when I say that she’s really sweet and that I like her,” he said, his voice taking on a dreamy cast. “Ironically enough, we kissed for the first time today too. I didn’t know anyone but you could make me feel that way.”

Her heart twisted in her chest. Ladybug worked hard to pull her expression back into something approaching normal. This was a good thing, right? It meant that Chat was moving on from her. He was dating other people. That was _good_.

“I’m happy for you, Kitty,” she whispered.

Chat turned to her and smiled. “Thanks. And I have to say, it’s partially thanks to you.”

“To me?” Ladybug repeated.

“About a month ago, you told me that I needed to move on,” Chat said, blissfully unaware of the reaction his words were having. “You said that for the sake of our partnership, you wanted me to find happiness. It made me really think about things.”

“I did say that, didn’t I?” Ladybug said quietly. She remembered that conversation. Chat had brought her another rose. Sick of trying to find ways to gently steer their relationship back to platonic waters, she’d told him in no uncertain terms that he needed to look for happiness outside their partnership.

For once, he’d actually listened. The realization should’ve felt better than it did.

“Yup. And I’m glad you did. It really hurt at first, but then I did a lot of thinking and now… well. I have a girlfriend and you have a boyfriend!” He grinned at her and she smiled back automatically.

“Yeah… so, um, what’s she like?” Ladybug asked.

“Come on now, Ladybug. I can’t tell you that. Secret identities and all that,” Chat said. “Don’t wanna break your own rules, right?”

“Right,” Ladybug said woodenly. This was why he’d changed. This was why he didn’t flirt or call her nicknames or kiss her hand. Someone else was getting that attention now.

She didn’t know why that thought left a terrible pit in her stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let the jealousy begin!


	11. It’s not always like this.

She wanted to say something. Ladybug _knew_ she _shouldn’t_ say anything. She wrestled with it during their patrol, more focused on the bomb Chat had just dropped than on paying any attention to making sure Paris was safe. He obviously noticed her distraction because, about halfway through the patrol, Chat stopped and gently grabbed her wrist.

“Are you okay?” he asked, giving her an intent stare. “You’re not feeling sick or anything, are you?”

“I’m fine,” Ladybug said, momentarily off balance. They seemed much closer in height than usual, with her eyes being almost level to his instead of on par with his mouth.

“Okay,” Chat said, sounding unconvinced. “But you do realize you’re standing in garbage, right?”

Ladybug looked down and squealed when she realized he was right. She’d inadvertently landed on top of an open garbage can. She quickly jumped down and kicked her feet to rid them of any unwanted remains, while Chat covered his mouth and tried not to laugh.

“LB, seriously,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing, I just - wait, you called me LB,” she said. The realization made her feel warm.

Chat gave her a weird look. “Yeah… so? What, you don’t like LB now either?” He smirked at her. In spite of her protests, he’d continued calling her Bugaboo until the name had grown on her and they both knew it.

“No, you just haven’t called me by any nicknames for like two weeks now,” she shot back, annoyed.

She couldn’t broach the subject of his girlfriend until she knew why the news had thrown her for such a loop. But it was fair to bring this up, wasn’t it? She hadn’t stopped calling him _Chaton_ or _Minou_ or Kitty just because of Adrien. And Ladybug didn’t think she ever would. Chat would _always_ be her kitty no matter what.

“Oh.” Chat blinked, then, surprisingly, blushed.

“Well?” Ladybug demanded, propping her hands on her hips.

“I didn’t think you’d notice,” he admitted.

“Of course I noticed! You only call me Ladybug if something is really wrong. But every time I asked, you said it was nothing,” she said. “That just made me worry more.”

“Yeah… uh, sorry.” Chat sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. “I didn’t mean to stop out of the blue. I was just trying to figure out how I felt about my girlfriend. And I thought it might be awkward. I started off using most of those nicknames because I… you know…”

Because he <strike>was</strike> had been in love with her, Ladybug mentally finished. She suddenly felt like crying. This new girlfriend was changing things between them already. It wasn’t _fair_.

“So just because you have a girlfriend, that means I can’t be your lady anymore?” Ladybug asked in a small voice. She heard the quiver in her own voice and hated herself for it. She didn’t want to be one of those girls who cried at everything, but she couldn’t help it.

The thought of losing Chat was too awful to contemplate.

Chat’s eyes widened with panic. “What? No! I didn’t mean - shit, I didn’t mean it like that. _No_.” He reached and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her into a hug.

He was warm in spite of the chill, and Ladybug told herself that was the reason why she wrapped her arms around him so eagerly. It wasn’t unusual at all for them to hug, yet it felt like it had been forever since she’d felt the reassuring weight of Chat’s arms around her. His arms was one of the only places where she truly felt safe, and she had missed that.

“You’ll always be my lady,” Chat said quietly. “I was being dumb, I think.” His chin moved against the top of her head as he spoke.

“I don’t want to lose you,” Ladybug confessed. It seemed easier to say when she wasn’t looking right at him.

“Lose me? Hey, that would _never_ happen,” Chat said, so vehemently that she had to believe him. “You and me, we’re partners for life. Okay?”

“Okay. Good. Because I feel the same way,” she said, squeezing him a little harder just because she could.

They stood there for several minutes, just hugging. Ladybug could’ve stood there all night, honesty. It felt so good to have Chat’s undivided attention, to have his tail twined around her thigh, to be able to hear his heartbeat, to inhale his distinct scent of leather, cologne and old cheese.

Finally, Chat said softly, “I’m sorry I worried you.”

“I should’ve said something sooner,” Ladybug said quietly. “It’s… it’s not always like this. _I’m_ not always like this. I just got scared.”

“Next time, make sure you do. I know we can’t know everything about each other, but I’d like to fix what I can.” Chat pulled back and grinned at her. “Bugaboo.”

She scrunched her nose up and stuck her tongue out and he laughed. She was only able to hold out for a moment or two before she laughed too. His joy was infectious and it felt really good to just stand there and share a moment with him. For a few seconds, everything was okay.

And then her big mouth had to go and ruin it.

“Won’t your girlfriend mind that you have nicknames for another girl?” she asked before she could stop herself.

Chat smiled. “My girlfriend doesn’t know I’m Chat Noir, for one thing. But if she ever did find out, I’m sure she would understand. All of Paris knows how important we are to each other.”

“Right,” Ladybug said, gritting her teeth against the urge to demand to know if he’d thought about telling his girlfriend who he was. It was a security risk! They had no idea how trustworthy his girlfriend was! And most importantly: what if Chat told his girlfriend who he was before he told Ladybug? She didn’t think she could stand that.

“But also, I guess I’ll just have to make it even,” he went on. “I’ll figure out some nicknames for her!” He beamed, pleased with himself.

Ladybug just stared at him, shocked speechless for the second time in one night, and desperately tried not to think about why the thought of Chat calling another girl by a nickname made her want to throw up.


	12. What if I don’t see it?

Ladybug wearily crawled in through the window and fell onto her bed. She laid there for a moment, staring at her Chat Noir doll with a pensive expression. All of her earlier excitement over Adrien had… not faded away, exactly, but changed into something hot and sharp every time she thought about Chat and his girlfriend.

“Spots off,” she said finally, knowing Tikki was probably tired after the patrol.

Red light illuminated the room and coalesced into Tikki. Marinette silently slid a hand under her pillow and retrieved a wrapped up napkin which contained four chocolate chip cookies. She set the napkin in front of Tikki and opened it up.

“Are you okay?” Tikki asked quietly.

“No,” Marinette said miserably. “I’m really not.”

“Oh, Marinette.” Tikki flew closer and nuzzled Marinette’s cheek.

“Why does it bother me so much, Tikki? Why do I hate the thought of Chat calling another girl by a nickname?” Marinette asked.

Tikki frowned thoughtfully “Well… maybe it’s because that’s something only Ladybug and Chat have shared.”

Marinette shook her head. “It’s not, though. Chat calls me Princess. I mean, sure it’s still me, but… _he_ doesn’t know that.”

It _was_ why she’d always thought of Chat as a shameless flirt, though. Maybe this shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Maybe he had nicknames for lots of girls. It hadn’t sounded like that tonight, but there were also lots of things that Marinette didn’t know about her partner.

Her eyes felt hot. She blinked back tears as she watched Tikki fly over and grab a cookie, and she couldn’t help wondering what Chat would come up with for his girlfriend. Something sweet and meaningful, no doubt. Something that would make his girlfriend smile and give him loads of kisses.

The image in her head made that feeling in her chest rear up again. She bowed her head, realizing that she didn’t like the idea of any other girl kissing Chat, either. Why hadn’t she ever realized that before?

Probably, she thought miserably, because she’d never actually thought Chat would do it, that’s why. She’d always thought that Chat would stay interested in her and only her. That was pretty selfish, wasn’t it? Especially when Marinette couldn’t even quantify how she felt about him right now.

“Tikki… do you think I like Chat?” Marinette asked, fighting to keep her voice even.

Tikki looked at her very seriously. “Marinette, you want the honest truth?”

“Yes,” Marinette said.

“Then yes, I think you do. I think you were just blinded by the intensity of your feelings for Adrien, so you never let yourself think about Chat that way. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Like I said before, you _can_ like more than one person at a time. You just chose Adrien without really considering Chat.”

Marinette stayed quiet for a moment, thinking about that. She’d thought she knew her own heart. She’d been so sure that there were no romantic feelings for Chat. But now she was so confused. Could she really call her feelings platonic when she was so jealous over the thought of Chat kissing other girls and calling them nicknames?

“Do you want to give Adrien up?” Tikki asked, crunching her way through her second cookie.

“No!” Marinette exclaimed.

“I didn’t think so,” Tikki said with a smile. “And you can’t really have them both…”

“Well… polyamory is a thing,” Marinette said, crossing her arms.

Tikki gave her a deadpan look. “That it is, but do you really think you could handle that on top of everything else? How do you think Adrien would feel not being able to even know the name of the other man you’re dating?”

“… Yeah, okay,” Marinette mumbled. She hated to admit it, but Tikki had a point.

“And since it’s not fair to Chat to expect him not to date anyone…”

“Ugh, I hate it when you’re all reasonable!” Marinette exclaimed in frustration.

Tikki laughed. “You can’t have your cake and eat it too. You can’t declare Chat off limits and not want him to date just because you’re not even sure how you feel about him.”

“Sure I can. Chat would probably do it, too.”

“Marinette,” Tikki said, her scowl deepening.

“I know, I know. That’s a horrible thing to even think. I just - _uggggggggh_!” Marinette let out a groan and pulled her pillow over her face.

How had things enddd up this way? Why was Chat making her so confused just when she was finally getting somewhere with Adrien? It was all that stupid cat’s fault. She growled again into the pillow.

“Don’t suffocate yourself,” Tikki said mildly.

Marinette pushed the pillow away and glared. “So what do I do then?”

“You don’t do anything. You keep dating Adrien and keep treating Chat like your partner. Not has to change,” Tikki said.

“What if I can’t do that? What if I don’t see it? What if things keep changing? What if Chat -”

“No, stop. Don’t let yourself start thinking up worse case scenarios,” Tikki warned.

Marinette obediently stopped. She stared at her kwami with pleading eyes. Tikki sighed.

“It’s gonna be okay,” she said gently. “It will all work out, Marinette. I _promise_.”

“You don’t know that,” Marinette mumbled. So far as she could see it, there was no way in which this would turn out well. She pulled the pillow back over her face with another drawn-out groan. Maybe suffocation was the answer after all.


	13. I never knew it could be this way.

“What’s this I hear about you and Adrikins dating?”

Marinette closed her eyes briefly and resisted the urge to slowly bang her head against her locker door. After spending most of yesterday and last night dwelling on Chat and Adrien, she was _not _in the mood to deal with Chloé. But experience had also taught her that Chloé wasn’t going to go away without a fight. Reluctantly, Marinette grabbed her math book and slammed the door shut.

“Yeah, Adrien and I are dating. So what?” Marinette said, looking warily at her enemy slash teammate slash co-conspirator, depending on the day.

Chloé pursed her lips and didn’t say anything for several seconds. Her blue eyes were strangely intent, like she was trying to see into Marinette’s soul. Marinette stared back, waiting for the moment when Chloé had a tantrum of epic proportions. After all, everyone knew that Chloé considered Adrien to be her property.

So it shocked the hell out of Marinette when Chloé merely snorted and tossed her blond ponytail over her shoulder. She turned away from Marinette, putting one hand on her hip.

“Boy, are _you_ in for a rough morning,” she said cryptically, sauntering away. 

“What?” Marinette said under her breath, eyebrows furrowed. That was _not _what she had expected.

“That was weird,” Tikki said, poking her head out of Marinette’s purse.

“It really was. I thought Chloé was going to freak out. I can’t believe she didn’t say a word about Adrien belonging to her,” Marinette said. “I never thought it could be this way. I didn’t know Chloé was capable of not trying to get the last word!”

“Maybe Chloé is finally starting to grow up,” said Tikki.

Marinette snorted and hugged her math book to her chest. “Uh huh, and maybe Alya will decide she hates Rena Rouge and become a Queen Bee fan!” She dug the little doll she’d bought for Alya out of her bag and proceeded towards Madame Bustier’s classroom. She’d totally forgotten to give it to Alya on Saturday.

She walked into the classroom and froze at finding all of the eyes of her classmates on her. Even Alya and Nino were looking at her. Marinette slowly looked around at them, her pulse quickening when she realized that Lila was giving her a hard, triumphant stare.

“Marinette, is it true?” Alya said finally.

“Is what true?” Marinette said.

“Lila said she saw you making out with Chat Noir last night,” Alya said.

“She… what?” Marinette said, completely floored. 

“I know you probably didn’t want anyone to know, Marinette,” Lila said. “But I felt like it was my duty as Adrien’s classmate and friend to tell people what I saw.”

From the front row, Chloé let out an amused huff as she filed her nails. And suddenly, Marinette realized why Chloé hadn’t bothered to say anything else. She had to have known about Lila’s bullshit. What better ‘punishment’ than being the brunt of another one of Lila’s obnoxious lies? And one that was had the potential to threaten Marinette’s relationship with Adrien, at that.

She took a split second to calm herself, because what she _really_ wanted to do was fly into a screaming rage about what a nosy, lying bitch Lila was. But that wouldn’t help her cause, and would in fact probably make everything that much worse. The last thing she needed was everyone siding with Lila _again_.

“I’m not sure who you saw, Lila,” Marinette said, keeping her voice calm and sweet. “But it couldn’t have been me. I was busy most of last night helping my parents in the bakery.” 

“Oh, it was much later than that,” Lila said. “It was after midnight when I saw you two. Your parents don’t keep the bakery open that late, do they?” She smiled disarmingly.

“No… but what were you doing up that late?” Marinette asked.

“Lila doesn’t have to answer that,” Alya said, crossing her arms. “Marinette, seriously. Were you cheating on Adrien?”

Marinette flinched inwardly, stung. How could Alya even ask that question? She knew exactly how much Marinette had dreamed of this! Did she really think Marinette was going to throw it all away? Did she really think Marinette was capable of something like that?

“Of course I wasn’t!” Marinette snapped. “Lila was mistaken, that’s all. It must’ve been Chat Noir with someone else.”

With his girlfriend, most likely. The realization made her chest feel heavy. She walked up to her desk and set her bag down, slipping the Rena Rouge doll back inside. After this, she knew she wouldn’t feel like giving the gift to Alya anytime soon. It would probably find a new home buried at the back of Marinette’s closet until she no longer felt hurt.

“Are you sure? Because that person was wearing a black blazer and pink capri pants exactly like yours. I’m pretty sure you’re the only who would pair those two things together,” Lila said.

Now Lila was insulting her fashion sense? Marinette was going to kill a bitch. She clenched her fist at her side, wracking her brain for some kind of alibi. It sucked that she even had to give one, but she could tell that no one here was going to believe her without one. The problem was, she didn’t really have one. After the bakery closed up, she’d gone upstairs and worked on homework alone.

“It wasn’t me,” Marinette said, but as she looked around, she could see the doubt. Everyone knew that she was a Chat Noir fan. Marinette had made no secret of that. Her passionate defence of her partner was coming back to bite her in the ass.

“If it was, you should be honest,” Lila said, placing a hand over her heart. “It’s really not fair to Adrien for you to cheat on him, Marinette. I’m only thinking about what’s best for him.”

And, in a moment where Marinette’s ladybug luck chose to completely desert her, Adrien walked into the classroom just in time to hear Lila.


	14. I can’t come back.

Adrien froze in the doorway, and Marinette could see the instant when Lila’s words fully registered. His eyes widened as his lips parted in surprise. Marinette’s heart sank straight through the floor. Lila’s smirk widened; Alya, Nino and everyone else looked vaguely guilty, as though only then comprehending what they were accusing Marinette of.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

“… What?” Adrien said after a significant pause. He looked confused now. Naturally, Lila rushed to clarify.

“Oh, Adrien. I hate to be the one to tell you this -”

Bullshit.

“But I saw Marinette kissing Chat Noir last night!” Lila said, dramatically putting the back of her hand to her forehead. “I agonized over whether I should say anything, but finally I decided that it just wasn’t right to keep that information to myself. You deserve someone _honest_ and _trustworthy_ to be your girlfriend.”

The _hypocricy._ Marinette’s mouth fell open and she was rendered utterly speechless at Lila’s sheer audacity. A tense silence hung over the classroom; now, they were all watching Adrien to see what his response would be. Marinette’s brain worked furiously to try and figure something out, but she kept drawing a blank.

Oh god. This was it, wasn’t it? This was the moment when her relationship with Adrien ended before it even had the chance to really go anywhere. Marinette could see an empty, hollow future in which Adrien leaned on either Lila or Chloé to recuperate and all of their classmates shunned Marinette even more than they already did sometimes -

And then, shocking literally everyone, Adrien laughed.

“Uh… Adrien?” Nino said cautiously, getting up and walking over to his friend. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Adrien said, shaking his head and chuckling. “Lila, I don’t know what you think you saw, but I can assure you that Marinette was _not _making out with Chat Noir last night.”

Lila looked baffled. It was obvious this had thrown a wrench in her plans. She’d probably chosen Chat because, theoretically, no one in their class was close enough to Chat Noir to be able to ask him the truth. The fact that Adrien was standing there blatantly calling her out had thrown Lila for a loop.

It had also thrown Marinette for a loop. She stared at Adrien in wonder.

“But… But I saw -” Lila sputtered weakly.

“What time do you think you saw it?” Adrien asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Lila said it was after midnight. Around 12:30am,” Nathaniel piped up.

“Marinette and I were video chatting at that time. Unless you can explain how she could be laying on her bed talking to me and out cavorting with Chat Noir at the same time, I think this must be a case of mistaken identity,” Adrien said. He wasn’t mean or rude about it; he was very matter-of-fact in a way that suggested there was no other explanation.

That didn’t seem to help Lila, who turned a dull red. “I… I guess it was someone who just _looked_ like Marinette,” she said shrilly. “I was only trying to help!”

“Of course you were,” Rose said pacifyingly, patting Lila’s hand.

“Well, I’m glad that’s settled!” Alya said cheerfully, dropping into her seat.

“That’s it?” Marinette said before she could stop herself. She knew the smart thing to do would be to let it go, but no sooner had that thought passed through her mind than she realized she couldn’t. Normally Lila’s lies did nothing but harm Marinette’s image or reputation, but this could have easily cost her so much more.

“What?” Alya asked.

“You accused me of _cheating_. You’re not even going to apologize?” Marinette said.

“Lila made a mistake. She didn’t do it on purpose,” Kim said. Several other people murmured their assent, and Alya nodded.

“Come on, Marinette. Don’t make a big deal of this,” Alya said.

And right then, Marinette knew she had to leave before she exploded and said a bunch of things that she wouldn’t be able to take back. She stormed down the steps and rushed past Adrien, darting out the door and back into the hallway. She didn’t stop running until she reached the girl’s room, which was mercifully empty.

“How dare they? How _dare_ they?” Marinette cried out into the empty room.

“That horrible, rotten girl!” Tikki exclaimed, bursting out of Marinette’s purse. “She could’ve ruined everything!” She was practically shaking with fury, which strangely enough calmed Marinette’s own anger a little bit. She didn’t think she’d ever seen Tikki _this_ angry. It helped.

“They accused me of cheating and that’s ‘not a big deal’?” Marinette ranted. “What if Adrien had believed them?!”

“It’s a good thing Lila chose Chat Noir to lie about,” Tikki said.

Marinette paused at that, turning back towards her kwami. “Wait… why is that a _good_ thing?” She had been thinking the opposite mere minutes ago, after all.

Tikki froze. “Uh - erm - it’s just - be-because everyone knows that - that the superheroes don’t date!” she said shiftly.

“Tikki…” Marinette narrowed her eyes at her sweating kwami.

“That doesn’t matter!” Tikki said quickly. “What matters is you getting back to class.”

“Back? No way. I can’t come back. If I have to see Lila’s stupid face today, I’m going to punch it.” Marinette held a fist up as proof, while mentally filing away Tikki’s unusual reaction for later perusal. There was _something_ weird about it for sure.

“So… you’re just going to hide out in the girl’s bathroom all day?” Tikki asked.

“No. I have a better idea.” Marinette motioned Tikki back into her purse and headed for the door. She pushed it open and stopped.

Adrien stood there, clearly waiting for her.

“A-Adrien!” Marinette squeaked, shocked.

“Hi,” Adrien said softly. “You ran out so fast… I wanted to make sure you were okay. That was pretty awful.”

His kindness was almost enough to make her tear up. Marinette forced a smile instead. “Yeah… it wasn’t great.”

“Are you okay?” he asked, looking at her intently.

“I’m…” Marinette was about to say that she was fine, but paused. “You know what, no. I’m really not.”

Adrien nodded. “I didn’t think so. Listen, you wanna go grab a coffee and just hang out?”

“_Yes_,” Marinette said. “I really do.” She took his offered hand and fell into step beside him as they headed for the door. She never even noticed the purple butterfly hovering behind her, which suddenly stopped and then veered off, heading in a different direction.


	15. That’s what I’m talking about

They walked to a little café that about a block away from the school. At Adrien’s urging, Marinette took a seat on one of the benches outside in the sunshine. Adrien left his bag with her and went into the café. Marinette leaned back against the bench, closing her eyes and lifting her face to the sun. She was still upset, but considerably less so than before.

“You doing alright?” Tikki asked, shifting the flap of the purse aside to peek out.

“Not too bad,” Marinette said, glancing down at her kwami. A bit of red caught her eye, and she looked more fully at Adrien’s bag. Hanging from one of the zippers was a small, round red object with five black spots. It took her a moment to realize that it was meant to be a miniature replica of Ladybug’s yoyo. Her heart warmed.

“Okay!” Adrien said, emerging from the shop with two drinks in hand. “I noticed that you tend to like warmer drinks, so here.” He handed her a steaming cup. “It’s chamomile tea with honey. Supposed to be very calming.”

She took the cup. “Calming, huh? Are you trying to tell me something?”

“Well, I’m not personally opposed to you punching Lila in the face, but I really don’t want to see you end up in any more trouble,” Adrien said, settling beside her with his own drink.

“Sometimes I think it would be worth it,” Marinette muttered, taking a sipping from her drink.

Adrien sighed. “I can’t really blame you for that.”

They were quiet for a couple of minutes. Marinette stared down at her drink, thinking about everything that had happened over the last couple of weeks. One question kept popping up in her mind. She snuck a quick look at Adrien; he had one arm on the back of the bench and was occasionally sipping at his drink with his free hand. His expression was pensive. She decided to just go for it.

“Why didn’t you believe her?”

“What?” Adrien said, turning to her in surprise.

“Lila. You just laughed and made up an excuse that absolved me in the eyes of the rest of the class without question… you never even considered for a _second_ that she might be telling the truth for once,” Marinette said. “Even knowing what we know about Lila, most people would’ve had at least a seed of doubt.”

“I trust you, Marinette,” Adrien said quietly. “You are _not_ that kind of person. I don’t believe you would _ever_ do that to someone, no matter who they said it was.”

“I wish Alya and everyone else felt that way,” Marinette said bitterly. “It’s like their brains shut off whenever Lila says something.”

“I may have said something to that effect,” Adrien said.

“You didn’t!” Marinette said, startled.

He just smiled. “I might’ve pointed out to Alya that she would be absolutely _furious_ if anyone accused her of cheating on Nino, especially if that person did it without proof. And then I may have told everyone else that they should be ashamed of themselves for automatically thinking the worst of you.”

“Adrien…” Marinette bit her lip, overwhelmed and touched.

“I admit I didn’t say anything to Lila. I don’t think I could’ve kept myself from really letting her have it,” Adrien went on. He gently swirled his drink.

“I wish you had,” Marinette mumbled. Maybe if it came from Adrien, it might actually have an impact on Lila.

He set his drink down and slid closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. He didn’t say anything, but he gently rubbed his fingers up and down his arm. Gradually, Marinette felt some of the anger and tension draining away. She leaned into him, daring to rest her head on his shoulder. He was warm and comfortable.

It felt like something they had done before, she realized. She had never felt this safe with anyone but Chat.

“Lila made a mistake using Chat Noir’s name, anyway,” Adrien said idly.

“What do you mean?” Marinette asked.

“Err… well, everyone knows that he’s in love with Ladybug, rght?” Adrien said, tensing slightly. “Alya would’ve realized that if she’d actually thought about the situation for more than ten seconds. I mean, I know I called you our ‘everyday Ladybug’, but… why would Chat be kissing another girl, even one as amazing as you, if he’s in love with her?”

Why indeed. Thank goodness the fact that Chat had a civilian girlfriend wasn’t widespread knowledge. It would’ve definitely poked some holes into Adrien’s theory. Still, though. He wasn’t wrong. It was frustrating to know that Alya considered herself to be such a fantastic journalist, when sometimes she had such difficulty connecting even the most basic details.

“Alya likes the exciting parts of being a journalist. I don’t think she’s figured out that you have to do the boring parts of it too, regardless of whether you like it or not,” Marinette said finally. She finished off her drink and set the empty cup down.

“That’s what I’m talking about. She has a really good thing going with the Ladyblog, but she’s going to ruin the credibility of it if she’s not careful. I’ve seen that happen to a lot of fashion bloggers. They start off good and then they trust the wrong person and…” Adrien waved a hand.

“I don’t want that to happen to the Ladyblog. But I don’t know how to get through to her. Especially when she pulls stunts like this.” Marinette scowled at nothing in particular. “It’s going to take me some time to forgive her for this one.”

“That’s okay,” Adrien said, tipping his head so that it was leaning atop hers.

It was a perfect moment, the two of them cuddled together in the sun: Marinette couldn’t help feeling like they had overcome a major hurdle, and she loved the fact that Adrien trusted her enough to disregard Lila’s lies without blinking an eye. She put her hand over her purse and gently patted Tikki, and smiled when she felt Tikki bumping her hand in return.

They both jumped when the sound of screaming split the air. Adrien jerked away and Marinette nearly fell over, catching herself just in time. She looked at him, and he looked back at her, and then as one they both turned to look back in the direction of the screaming… back in the direction of their school.


	16. Listen. No really, listen

“You should go hide.”

It took Marinette a few seconds to realize that she and Adrien had spoken in near perfect unison. She glanced over at him to see him watching her with a curious expression. Maybe he was wondering why she wasn’t running away, or why she hadn’t grabbed his arm to make him hide.

Unfortunately, there was no time to waste. She couldn’t be a good girlfriend right now; Chat couldn’t purify akuma without her. So she seized upon her tried and true excuse and pasted on a fake smile.

“Seriously, you should go hide,” Marinette said, jumping to her feet. “I have to go home. My parents don’t like it when I’m out and about during akuma attacks.”

“I could come with you,” Adrien offered, that peculiar still look on his face, and Marinette froze. She hadn’t expected that.

“Err, I don’t - I mean -” She struggled to think of a good reason. Under any other circumstances, Adrien would be _more_ than welcome at the bakery. Just not now, not when she couldn’t actually accompany him there.

Adrien shook his head suddenly. “No, yeah, sorry. That was rude of me to invite myself along.”

“No! Listen.” She grabbed his shoulder. “No really, _listen_. You’re always welcome to come home with me, Adrien. Okay? _Always_.”

He looked at her intently, then his face softened. His hand came up to cover hers. “Thank you, _Ma Belle_.”

Marinette froze. Her brain definitely blue screened as she stared into his eyes and attempted to process the fact that Adrien had just called her beautiful while looking at her like she was the most important thing in his world.

“But for today, I should go home too. I’ll text you after.” He squeezed her hand and stood, then bent to kiss her cheek.

She didn’t even watch him go, too shocked. Her heart was racing. She shakily lifted a hand to touch the spot where he’d kissed her. The tingly feeling fluttering through her was almost overwhelming. How could one person inspire this much _feeling_?

“Marinette? Marinette! Snap out of it! You can stare at nothing with a lovestruck smile later. There’s an akuma!” Tikki hissed.

“Right. Akuma.” Marinette gave her head a firm shake and looked around. There were way too many witnesses - people were running away from the akuma in every direction - so she hurried into an alley between the café and the shop next door.

Tikki emerged from her purse, shaking her head. “You are _so_ lucky Adrien didn’t press that.”

“Yeah, I am,” Marinette admitted. Now that she thought about it, that seemed a little unusual. Adrien had never gone home during an akuma fight before, or at least not that she was aware of. He always came back to school quickly after battles with an excuse that he’d been hiding nearby.

If anything, on a day like today when they were both skipping school, she assumed he _wouldn’t_want to go home because then his father would know he’d skipped. And Marinette may not have known Gabriel Agreste well, but she knew enough to know Gabriel wouldn’t be happy about that. Adrien usually did what he could to avoid that…

“Marinette! Seriously, the akuma!” Tikki yelled.

“Right! Tikki, spots on!”

Ladybug made her way to the top of the café and began running towards the school. Now her heart thudded in her chest for a different reason as she tried to amp herself up what would most likely be a long, drawn out battle. She was almost positive that the akuma was Lila, and akumatized Lila Rossi was nothing to laugh at.

Much to her surprise, she spotted Chat already on the roof of the school. He was crouched down so as not to be seen, observing the akuma from a distance. That was so unlike her usually reckless partner that Ladybug changed trajectory; rather than swing down into the yard, she landed beside him with a question on her lips.

Chat, however, immediately turned to her with a grave look. “I’d say _bonjour_ but it’s really not. I think this akuma might be Lila Rossi again. And if I’m right, she’s going to be really angry.”

“How do you know?” Ladybug asked before she could stop herself.

“There was an… altercation earlier with Lila and some of her classmates,” Chat said carefully, deliberately omitting several details. Which Ladybug knew because she’d been there. But Chat hadn’t.

Right?

“It wasn’t good, and if I’m right that means the akuma might be after Adrien Agreste and Marinette Dupain-Cheng in particular.” Chat sounded grim as he stared down at the yard. “Now I know Adrien is safe, but one of us might have to check and make sure Marinette got home safely.”

How did Chat know Marinette was going home? It was not quite ten in the morning. Shouldn’t he have assumed she was at school with everyone else?

“My Lady?” Chat turned back to her again with a perplexed expression, and Ladybug snapped out of it.

“You don’t have to worry about Marinette,” she said confidently. “I passed by the Dupain-Cheng bakery on my way here and saw Marinette going inside.”

As usual, Chat didn’t question her. He merely smiled in relief. “Thank goodness. We’ll just have to keep the akuma from going that way, then.”

“Or towards the Agreste mansion,” Ladybug said.

Chat nodded. “Right, of course. Shall we?” He grabbed his baton and extended it with a wicked smile. It was a smile that made heat bloom in the pit of Ladybug’s stomach and which threw her completely off guard as he leapt off the roof.

How could two different guys provoke the same reaction? Ladybug rubbed her eyes and groaned at herself. She had to get a grip. She could sit down and puzzle over everything later. Right now, they had an akuma to fight. She gripped her yo-yo and followed after her kitty.


	17. There’s just something about her.

The first thing Ladybug saw when she touched down on the ground was someone who looked like they were an old-fashioned newspaper seller, cap and all, if you ignored the glasses and bright purple skin. The akuma spun around to face them and immediately reached into their bag, yanking out a handful of papers.

“Heads up, Ladybug! I’m going to get the truth out of everyone!” the akuma announced with a confident smirk.

“Oh my god,” Ladybug said. “That’s not Lila!”

“It’s Alya,” Chat said, sharing her horrified look.

“This is awful,” Ladybug said, pressing her hands to her face. She’d been so sure that Lila was the one akumatized. It was just what Lila _did_ when she was thwarted in some way. Alya must have been more upset than anyone realized.

“Bugaboo, watch out!” Chat grabbed her shoulders and launched them both out of the way. Papers struck the ground where the two of them had been standing and melted away.

“What - what are those?” Ladybug said, pushing herself up.

Chat looked around and spotted one of the papers on the ground that hadn’t melted away. He grabbed it and held it up, and Ladybug saw that there was writing on it. His face paled and his eyes widened as he scanned the first few lines; then he quickly crumbled it up and shoved it into his pocket.

“If those papers hit you, they get covered in an article that tells all of your secrets,” he said. “That was all about Rose.”

“Shit,” Ladybug whispered. “Whatever you do, don’t let those papers touch you!” She got to her feet.

“Oh Lila,” the akuma was calling. “Come out, come out, wherever you are! Inquiring minds want to know whether you’ve been telling the truth about everything.”

“Where do you think the akuma is?” Chat asked. The akuma wasn’t paying them much attention, which was unusual for Alya. This was a prime opportunity for her to figure out their identities. She must’ve been _really_ mad at Lila.

Ladybug scanned the akuma, but the only thing she could notice that looked any different was the glasses. The akuma didn’t have a cell phone this time. She glanced at Chat and brought her hand up, tapping her eyes. He nodded in understanding.

“There you are!” the akuma screamed.

Lila shrieked, abandoned her hiding place beside Juleka, and ran for it. Juleka ducked down with her hands over her head, but the akuma didn’t even look at her. Instead, it took off after Lila. Ladybug and Chat exchanged another look and then followed.

“Please, don’t hurt me!” Lila cried.

“I’m not going to _hurt_ you. I’m just going to _expose_ you!” the akuma shouted. “Come on, _Lie_-la. Don’t you want the world to know that you’ve been telling us the truth from day one?”

It grabbed another fistful of papers from its bag and wound its arm back like a pitcher. Ladybug put on a burst of speed and threw her yo-yo out; it caught and jerked her off her feet, and she swung around, grabbing Lila around the waist and out of the line of fire. The papers hit the ground harmlessly.

“Damn you, Ladybug!” the akuma yelled. “I’m trying to get a huge scoop here! Verified and everything!”

“Hey!” Chat cried. “That’s my partner you’re talking about!” He launched himself at the akuma with his baton held aloft. The akuma spun to meet him.

As they fought, Ladybug touched down, and set Lila on the sidewalk, and said, “You should get out of here before she targets you again.”

“Yeah right. Like you care. You don’t have to fake concern,” Lila muttered angrily, snatching her hands away from Ladybug like she’d been burned.

Ladybug ground her teeth together and summoned up all of her remaining patience, which wasn’t much after this morning. The thought of abandoning Lila to the akuma was _much_ more tempting than it should have been. After everything, it was no less than what Lila deserved.

“Run,” Ladybug said when she thought she could speak without swearing. “_Now_.”

She turned away without waiting to see if Lila was going to obey, throwing out her yo-yo again. Chat was struggling against the akuma; Ladybug landed right behind it and joined the fight.

But the akuma was unexpectedly strong and skilled. It grabbed Chat’s baton and wrenched him off balance, then grabbed his ankle and literally threw him at Ladybug as hard as it could. Chat slammed into her and the momentum threw them both into a building. Ladybug slid to the ground with a pained gasp, and then yelped when Chat landed on top of her.

“You don’t own me, Hawkmoth,” the akuma said somewhere above them. “I’ll get you their miraculous, but I’m getting what _I_ want first.” It turned and ran away.

Ladybug stared up at the sky and questioned her life choices. Chat was a heavy weight across her belly and chest. For a moment she thought he might have been knocked out - the suits could and did protect them, but underneath they were still human - until he groaned and rolled off of her to lay beside her.

“What is it about Lila Rossi that inspires such hatred in people?” he asked in a hazy voice.

“There’s just something about her,” Ladybug said flatly. “Probably the fact that she’s a lying bitch who doesn’t care about anyone but herself, but I’m just guessing on that one.” She gingerly sat up and poked at her midsection, but nothing felt broken.

Beside her, Chat sat up too. “Ugh, this is all my fault,” he muttered under his breath as he groped around for his baton. She didn’t think she was meant to hear him say that, but she did.

She stared at him for a moment.

“What?” Chat asked, pressing his baton to the ground. As it lengthened, he held on and the baton lifted him to his feet.

“… Nothing,” Ladybug said after a pause. There was a suspicion bubbling at the back of her brain, but there was no time to think about it now. She shook her head and reached out a hand.

He caught it, easily pulling her to her feet, and said, “You okay? That was a hard hit. I’d hate to leave you black and blue for your boyfriend.”

“The miraculous cure will heal us,” she reminded him, rather than point out that her boyfriend hadn’t gotten under her clothes. She sure as hell hoped Chat’s girlfriend hadn’t gotten under _his_ clothes either. The familiar flare of what she now knew was jealousy rose up in her chest again, sharp and biting.

If her suspicion was wrong, what the hell was she going to do? It was all fine and well for Tikki to say that it was okay to like two boys at once, but _she_wasn’t the one caught between two people. Ladybug sighed. Life had been so much easier when she in denial about what she felt for Chat.

Honestly, much as she hated to admit it, life had been easier before they’d started dating other people. Back when Adrien had no idea about her crush, and she was just another classmate. Back when Chat flirted and teased, when no other woman had her sights set on his heart.

“LB?” Chat said. “You with me?” He smiled at her and twitched a cat ear quizzically, and her heart melted. He was unfairly cute sometimes.

“Yeah. Right. Sure,” Ladybug said. “Let’s… ugh, let’s go save Lila.” She wondered if she sounded as grumpy as she felt.

“Right,” Chat said, still giving her a curious look. “Want a ride?”

“Okay,” she said softly, and wondered if it made her a bad person that she enjoyed his arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her against his chest as much as she did.


	18. Secrets? I love secrets.

It took longer to find the akuma than Ladybug had expected. Instead of going home, which is what she and Chat thought Lila would do, Lila had doubled back to the school. And the akuma had followed right on her heels. By the time they got there, Lila had been tied to the gate. The akuma was standing in front of crowd, dramatically reading off a paper in hands.

“Please don’t!” Lila was sobbing piteously.

“Why shouldn’t I?” the akuma asked, spinning around to smirk. “Because they’re secrets? I love secrets! Everyone loves secrets! What we _don’t_love is someone who _lies_. So if you’ve been honest, it won’t matter.”

“She’s lying!” Lila cried out.

The akuma ignored her, focusing back on the paper. “Let’s see… where was I? Ah, yes. So it turns out you’re _not_ best friends with Ladybug. In fact, you _hate_ Ladybug with a burning passion. You’re not very fond of Chat Noir either.”

Several people audibly gasped. Ladybug winced. She and Chat were pretty popular, and she had the feeling that a lot of people wouldn’t take too kindly to Lila feeling that way. She started to step forward, but Chat’s hand on her shoulder made her pause.

“Oh, and what’s this? You lied about Marinette Dupain-Cheng kissing Chat Noir. You also lied about having saved Jagged Stone’s kitten, and you were never away visiting Prince Ali.” The akuma clicked her tongue. “And you also hate Marinette even more than you hate Ladybug. So much for being unaware of why Marinette won’t be your friend!”

“We should stop this!” Ladybug hissed, though she couldn’t deny how satisfying it was to hear those things _finally_ be said out loud.

“I know,” Chat said, yet he made no move to follow through. And Ladybug couldn’t either.

“My my, Lila, you are quite the accomplished liar!” the akuma said. “You don’t know any of the famous people you claimed you do. You’ve never traveled to any foreign cities. You lie constantly to your teachers, your parents… why you haven’t gone to the doctor in over two years! So much for that tinnitus.”

“Shut up!” Lila screamed. “You’re lying!” She wriggled desperately.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Chat whispered. “I’ll get the glasses. You ready?”

Ladybug nodded. “Lucky Charm!” She threw her yo-yo up in the air and caught the object that fell: a heart ornament with one side colored black and the other side colored red. A divided heart. She barely kept from rolling her eyes in exasperation.

Subtle, Tikki. Very subtle.

In the end, they didn’t need her Charm anyway - which was good because Ladybug had no idea how to use it. With Lila’s lies exposed, the akuma didn’t seem very interested in fighting. Chat easily snagged its glasses and used Cataclysm, which set the akuma free. Ladybug snapped her yo-yo out and caught it, then purified it and watched the butterfly flee.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” she shouted, throwing the ornament overhead. The red light was a relief, clearing up the painful throb in her chest, back and shoulders.

The akuma faded away, leaving Alya sitting there blinking. “What… what happened?” she asked dazedly.

“You got akumatized,” Chat told her, voice gentle.

“Oh my god!” Alya said, looking between them. “I’m so sorry!”

“You don’t have to apologize to us,” Ladybug said uncomfortably.

“You should be apologizing to me!” Lila shouted. The cure had freed her, and now she stormed up to Alya.

“What?” Alya said, recoiling. “Why?”

“You’ve humiliated me in front of everyone! My reputation and credibility are ruined and it’s all _your_fault!” Lila hissed. “I won’t forgive you for this, Alya Césaire. I’ll make you sorry.” She turned and stalked away. It didn’t escape Ladybug’s notice that no one tried to stop her.

Alya was left blinking in bewilderment. “I humiliated her? How?”

“I’m sure your friends will fill you in,” Ladybug said, spotting Nino lingering close by. Of course he was. He would never run away and leave Alya behind even if she was an akuma.

“We have to go,” Chat added as his ring beeped.

“Bug out!” Ladybug said with a forced smile, using her yo-yo to make a quick escape. She would have liked to have spoken with Chat for a moment, but, when she landed on a nearby building and looked around, he was already gone.

She sighed and jumped down to the ground. “Spots off.”

Tikki materialized, sporting a smug grin. “That was an interesting akuma.”

“Yeah, not really how I planned on dealing with Lila,” Marinette said, taking out a cookie. “A little part of me almost feels bad for her. That must’ve been really embarrassing.”

“Lila is the one who put herself in that situation,” Tikki said primly. “If she hadn’t lied like she had, there would’ve been nothing for the akuma to expose.”

“I guess.” Marinette shrugged. “Besides, some people will just dismiss it as an akuma making stuff up.” But she hoped that not everyone would. Not about the stuff that mattered.

“Do you think Lila will end up akumatized over this?” Tikki asked.

Marinette sighed again. “I hope not. She seemed more angry at Alya this time than at me or Chat… I don’t want Alya to be in danger over something that wasn’t her fault.”

Which reminded her of what Chat had said. She had a lot of thinking to do.

“You’ll have to keep a close on the news,” Tikki said, finishing her cookie. “And I should have another cookie just in case you have to transform again!” She peered at Marinette hopefully.

“That sounds fair,” Marinette said, smiling, though it quickly turned to a wry look. “By the way, that Lucky Charm? You’re not nearly as cute as you think you are.”

Tikki grinned. “The Charm always gives you what you need. I can’t help what you get,” she said slyly.

“Sure you can’t,” Marinette said dryly. “Was the Charm trying to tell me I have a divided heart because of Adrien and Chat?”

“Maybe,” Tikki said.

“Then it’s not what I needed. I already knew that!” Marinette said, throwing her hands up.

This time Tikki laughed out loud. “Think about it, Marinette,” she advised. “The answer is _much_ closer than you think.”

Marinette narrowed her eyes. “Am I _allowed_ to figure it out?”

“I think it’s time,” Tikki said simply.

“And I won’t have to like, give up my miraculous if what I’m thinking is right?” Marinette pressed.

“What? No. That’s stupid. You _are_ Ladybug,” Tikki said, flying closer and nuzzling Marinette’s cheek. “And you can do this. I believe in you.”

“Right,” Marinette said. “Tikki, I need time to think.”

“Take as long as you like,” Tikki said with a sweet smile. “Let’s go home.”


	19. Yes, I admit it, you were right.

Marinette hurried home, feeling exhausted after the day’s events. She probably should’ve gone to check on Alya, or at least texted her, but honestly that was the last thing she wanted to do right now. Akumatized or not, she was still upset with her friend. Alya was going to have to be the first one to reach out this time, but that probably wasn’t going to happen for a little while.

She pushed open the door to the bakery and gratefully stepping inside, smiling. “Maman, I’m home!”

“Hello, Dear,” Sabine said, glancing up from where she was carefully placing some pastries into the display case. She didn’t seem surprised to see Marinette, but Marinette figured she better be upfront with an explanation.

“I’m home early. There was another akumatization,” she said. “It was Alya again.”

“Oh no! What happened?” Sabine set the tongs aside and straightened up, giving Marinette her full attention.

Unfortunately, Marinette just didn’t want to talk about it. Telling her maman the truth would require going into more detail about Lila, and she hadn’t really talked to her parents about that yet - she hadn’t even decided if she was going to bother. And it was unlikely that Sabine would buy a vague explanation. Not when it came to Alya.

For once, her ladybug luck came through. The door opened behind Marinette and a whole flood of customers came in. Marinette was able to slip through the back of the bakery while her maman was occupied. She avoided the kitchen, not wanting to see her papa either, and hurried up the stairs to the apartment. She threw the door open -

“M-Marinette!” Adrien stammered, halfway through biting into an eclair. He froze, a guilty look on his face.

“Ah, Marinette!” Tom said at the same time, smiling jubilantly. “I was just using Adrien as my taste tester. I think I’ve finally perfected that new pastry cream for the eclairs, but I need an unbiased opinion.”

“Papa… Adrien…?” Marinette stared back and forth between them, rattled. What was Adrien doing here? He’d said he was going home. If she was wrong and her suspicions were incorrect, did that mean he’d been sitting here waiting for her the whole time? If they weren’t… was that why Chat had disappeared so fast?

“I’ll leave you two alone,” Tom said, giving Marientte a knowing wink. “Try the eclairs. I want to know what you think.” He patted Marinette’s shoulder and left, closing the door behind him.

Adrien swallowed his mouthful and smiled sheepishly. “Ah… sorry. I dropped by to check on you after the akuma attack was dealt with, but your papa said you weren’t here… and then he offered to let me try some of his eclairs, and I couldn’t bring myself to say no. They’re so good.” He looked at her expectantly as he spoke.

“Oh… uh…” Marinette said, drawing a blank. No wonder Sabine hadn’t been surprised. Adrien had probably told her that school had closed early because of the attack. It happened less than it used to, now that most of Paris was getting used to Hawkmoth’s insanity, but if an akuma directly impacted the school than Collège Françoise Dupont would still close.

“Are you okay?” Adrien asked, watching her closely.

“I’m fine,” Marinette said. That much, at least, she could say.

“You didn’t make it home?” he asked. “Or you were… _busy_?”

The emphasis he put on the word ‘busy’ didn’t escape her notice, and her heart leaped. Did he suspect that she was Ladybug? She frantically ran through their conversations in her head, trying to remember what she might have said that could’ve given her away. But it was hard to remember everything, and even harder to sort out what Marinette had said to Adrien and what Ladybug had said to Chat.

This was all getting so complicated. _Too _complicated.

“I didn’t make it,” she said, deciding to seize upon the out he’d offered. “I was headed this way when I saw the akuma taking Lila back to the school, and I decided it was probably better not to go that way. By the time I circled around, everything was over.” She shrugged, trying to pretend she was unaffected, and walked over to pick up an eclair.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” Adrien said, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

“You too,” Marinette said. She bit into the eclair and nearly moaned. Wow, her papa hadn’t been kidding when he said he’d perfected the recipe.

Adrien smiled. “You like it?”

She nodded, licking her lips. “ Yes, I admit it, you were right. It’s _really_ good. Papa’s hit it out of the park.” She took another bite, chewing slower this time.

Was it her imagination, or was there an awkward tension to the room that had never been there before? The proverbial elephant was casting a shadow over everything. Part of her wanted to just come right out and ask, but at the same time she couldn’t bring herself to. What if she was wrong? What if she really did have to chose between them? She needed time to think before she could make that leap.

“Well, I really just came to see if you were here,” Adrien said. “I mean - to see if you were okay. If you’d made it here okay.” He shook his head and sighed, then stood. “I’ll get out of your hair.”

“You can stay if you want,” Marinette said hesitantly. “We could play video games?” Because she couldn’t bring herself to kick him out no matter how much she wanted to be alone. Adrien deserved better than that. Still, she was a little relieved when he declined.

“I can’t. I’d love to, but I’ve already gotten a text from Nathalie asking where I am,” he said, pulling a regretful face. “Rain check?”

“Of course. Here, take a couple more eclairs for the road.” Marinette took a napkin and wrapped up two more pastries. When she turned back, Adrien was standing right behind her.

“Thanks,” he said softly.

“You’re welcome,” she whispered back.

He hesitated before leaning in and giving her a chaste kiss. Marinette closed her eyes, tasting pastry cream, and kept them shut as Adrien brushed past her. She heard the door open and close and realized when she knew he was gone. Only then did she look down at the sole remaining eclair, her head spinning.

She was in _big_ trouble.


	20. You could talk about it, you know?

Finally alone in her room, Marinette settled herself at her desk with a pad of paper and her favorite pink pen. Tikki watched her from nearby, quietly making her way through a whole plate of chocolate chip cookies, but Marinette was oblivious to her kwami’s eyes as she began scribbling away and talking to herself.

“Number one, the fact that Chat and Adrien are the same height and look to be the same weight, plus they both have blond hair and green eyes…” Marinette mumbled. She hadn’t said as much that day, but thanks to Mister Bug, she knew for _sure_ now that Chat’s eyes were green. 

Of course, there were loads of boys in Paris with blond hair, green eyes, and a similiar height and build to Chat Noir. That didn’t necessarily mean anything. Marinette scrunched her nose up, but left it on the list all the same. 

“Number two,” she continued. “Chat got a girlfriend at the exact same time that Adrien asked me to be his girlfriend. He also started dating his girlfriend right when Adrien and I started dating. _And_ he kissed his girlfriend on the same day that Adrien first kissed me.” That was one was a bit more damning, she thought. It could still be a coincidence, though.

“Number three, they both love puns.” She tapped her pen against her lips and thought back to their first date. Adrien’s excitement when she’d started punning back had been adorable. It was similar to how Chat reacted whenever Ladybug reciprocated with puns. Definitely stayed on the list.

She hummed to herself, then nodded and wrote down the next. “Number four, Adrien is _always_ missing during akuma attacks. I never noticed before because I was so busy running away myself, but that’s twice now that an akuma has attacked while we were together. Most people don’t hide separately during akuma attacks.”

Did they? Marinette paused at that, realizing that she didn’t really know. Maybe it was normal for people to find their own hiding places? To make themselves less of a target? She stared doubtfully at her paper. Maybe she should cross that one off if she didn’t know for sure.

“Keep going, Marinette. Don’t get stuck dwelling on unlikely things,” Tikki said gently.

Marinette looked over at her, startled. “What? Oh, yeah. You’re right. Okay. Number five, then. Adrien doesn’t think much of Chat, and we all know Chat has self-esteem issues…” She leaned her chin on her hand. “Gosh, I wish he could see how great he is.”

Thinking about that moment also made her remember Adrien admitting to liking Ladybug. Marinette’s cheeks warmed as she hastily added that as number six. It gave her hope that maybe Chat hadn’t fallen out of love with her completely. Maybe, like her, he liked what he thought were two different girls and had gone with the one who seemed to like him back.

“Okay, number seven,” she said.

“Wait, what about number six?” Tikki said, sounding far too amused.

“Number six is personal,” Marinette mumbled. “So, number seven. Chat said he asked out his girlfriend after his best friend told him that this girl had a crush on him. That sounds _exactly_ like something Nino would do. Everyone knows I’ve had a crush on Adrien for forever, except Adrien. And it would explain why Adrien suddenly asked me out.”

“Do you really think Nino would do that?” Tikki asked.

“Not intentionally, but without thinking? Absolutely,” Marinette said with a sigh. Really, she’d been lucky that Adrien had remained oblivious for as long as he had.

“Makes sense,” Tikki said. “So… number eight?”

“Number eight…” Marinette bit her lip, then said, “After I got upset, Chat said he’d figure out a nickname to call his girlfriend to, I dunno, make things even. Then Adrien called me ‘_ma belle_’ earlier today.” She blushed again and doodled a small cat in the corner of her sheet. “I’ve _never_ heard Adrien use a nickname for anyone before, but Chat uses them all the time for people he cares about.”

Tikki giggled. “That is such a cute nickname.”

“Right? It’s totally Adrien. Totally Chat.” Marinette smiled to herself. “Okay, number nine then. _You_ said it was a good thing that Lila chose Chat Noir to lie about.” She swung around to narrow her eyes at Tikki. “Was that because Adrien knew Chat couldn’t have been kissing me, since he is Chat?”

“Whoa, leave me out of this!” Tikki said quickly, holding her paws up. “I can neither confirm nor deny anything.”

“Uh huh,” Marinette said skeptically. “Because Adrien said the same thing to me a few minutes later. He blamed it on the fact that everyone knows Chat is in love with Ladybug, but…” She eyed her kwami suspiciously.

“Let’s move on to number ten,” Tikki said hastily.

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this,” Marinette warned, but obligingly moved on. “Number ten. I told Adrien I was going home. Then, when I met up with Chat like five minutes later,_ he_ told me Marinette was going home.”

She drummed her fingers on the desk. “In fact… that whole conversation was a disaster. Chat had already guessed that the akuma would be Lila, _and_ he knew she’d be after me and Adrien, even though only the people in our classroom knew what had happened.”

“You also told Chat that you knew Adrien was at his mansion, even though only Marinette would’ve known that,” Tikki said helpfully.

Marinette slapped her forehead. “Oh shit, I did say that even though Ladybug shouldn’t have known.”

Tikki finally abandoned the plate of half-eaten cookies and flew over to Marinette’s desk to look at the list. “Then you’ve got number eleven.”

“The fact that Chat said this whole fight was his fault. Adrien must feel bad about what he said to Alya, even though he was right,” Marinette said softly, writing it down.

They both looked at the list. When put all together like that, Marinette realized that it really was a damning list of evidence. One or two could be a coincidence. But _eleven _reasons? Not to mention how many more there probably were that she’d either forgotten about, or hadn’t thought enough of at the time for it to make an impact.

“And then there’s number twelve,” she said.

“Number twelve?” Tikki said. “You mean the fact that Adrien got here before you, even though he said he was going home?”

“Nope. The fact that they both make me feel the same way,” Marinette said, smiling fondly. “Tikki, please tell me the truth. Are Adrien and Chat the same person?”

Tikki looked at her very seriously. “Do you want them to be?”

It was a fair question. Two years ago, Marinette would’ve flipped out at the mere thought. But she was older now, and more experienced. She knew where she stood with Chat, and she and Adrien were much closer than they had ever been before. There was only one more thing that would make this perfect. She knew what her heart wanted.

“Yes, I do,” Marinette said firmly.

“Then you could talk about it, you know? With Adrien,” Tikki said. “I think you should.”

That was as much fo a yes as she was going to get, Marinette realized. Her heart racing with excitement, she grinned. “You know what, I think I will.”


	21. Change is annoyingly difficult.

Hands shaking, Marinette picked up her phone. She stared at the screen. It was a cute picture of her and Adrien on one of their dates together. Alya had taken it without either of them noticing and then texted it to Marinette later. She couldn’t help smiling as she gently rubbed her thumb over Adrien’s happy face.

She’d noticed that he smiled so much more now. She liked to think that she had a part in that, that maybe she was even the whole reason for it, because she sure knew _Adrien_ brought a smile to _her_ face every time she thought of him.

“Text him,” Tikki urged.

“I am. I’m just not sure what to say,” Marinette admitted. This was too huge to be done over text, or even over the phone. She needed to talk to him in person.

Because if he was Chat, he was probably going to freak out that she’d figured out his identity. Ladybug had always made such a big deal about keeping their identities a secret. He’d be upset, and maybe even worried about Ladybug being mad, until she told him the truth. Then it would all be okay.

_If_ Adrien was Chat.

“Just ask him if you can meet somewhere for a few minutes,” Tikki suggested. “Adrien won’t suspect anything.”

Tikki’s advice was sound. Marinette nodded. She tapped out a quick text to Adrien and then sat there, staring at the phone, for at least two full minutes. Disappointingly, Adrien failed to text her back. She groaned loudly and set her phone down.

“What do I do now, Tikki? He didn’t answer,” Marinette said, pouting.

“You could do your homework,” Tikki said. And then, when Marinette gave her a flat look, added, “Or maybe check social media to see what’s happening with Lila?”

“Oh my gosh, I completely forgot!” Marinette grabbed her phone again and eagerly unlocked it. She opened up the Ladyblog first, but there was nothing. Of course, Alya wouldn’t have been able to get any footage this time. Sometimes she’d post footage from her followers, but honestly Marinette suspected Alya was still reeling from what had happened.

She squashed the flicker of concern for how Alya was doing - she was _not_ going to reach out first, damnit - and moved over to Facebook. There, she found gold. She sucked in a breath as she looked at the most recent posts. Nearly every single one was about Lila.

“Oooh, they’re all _really_ mad,” Tikki said, sounding a little gleeful.

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but poor Lila,” Marinette murmured, scrolling through her feed. She winced as she read through post after post of people listing the things that Lila had told them she could do or had done, and then demanding to know if Lila had been lying to them too.

“Lila put herself in this position,” Tikki reminded her. “She didn’t have to lie to everyone. And she didn’t have to make her lies so plentiful or so uncontrollable. You yourself knows what happens when lies become too far-fetched.”

Marinette nodded glumly, recalling a few times when she’d used outlandish excuses in order to get away to be Ladybug. She’d been called out on it later, and it was always so uncomfortable not being able to share the _real_ reason she had to ditch people. She couldn’t imagine what Lila was going through.

“Maybe she’ll blame it all on her disease again,” Marinette said with a faint smirk. “She’ll say those are all lies she said because she’s sick and that she can’t be held accountable for them.”

Because right now, Lila had gotten away with that by saying that her disease was mostly controlled with only ‘occasional flare-ups’ when she was ‘stressed out’ - bullshit. The list of lies that the akuma had read out had happened during the course of Lila’s time at Collège Françoise Dupont. Lila couldn’t exactly say she’d been having a flair-up for the better part of almost two years now.

Well, she could. But in this case Marinette didn’t think anyone would believe it. Especially since now Lila’s parents would be aware of her lies too.

Tikki rolled her eyes. “If that’s what she does, her credibility is _definitely_ going to be destroyed. Anyone who has an ounce of common sense will never trust again, and they’ll seriously question whatever she’s said.”

“I hope so. I’m really tired of always being the bad guy when it comes to _Lie_-la.” Marinette smirked again. Was it too mean to hope that nickname caught on?

It would probably be taking it a step too far for Ladybug to make a post on Twitter using #lie-la, right?

Her phone beeped with an incoming text and Marinette grabbed it, hoping against hope that it wasn’t Alya or anyone else in their class. When she saw Adrien’s name, her eyes lit up and she eagerly unlocked her phone… only for her face to fall.

“Adrien says he’s busy for the rest of the day,” Marinette said, reading the text to Tikki. “He says his father got mad when Adrien didn’t go straight home after the school closed.” She made a face. Adrien had been delayed by what, two hours? Three hours max? The akuma hadn’t taken that long to defeat, and he’d only been at the bakery for like fifteen minutes. Gabriel Agreste was _such_ a control freak.

“I’m sorry. That sucks,” Tikki said.

“I guess I should’ve expected it. Adrien did say he’d gotten that text from Nathalie,” Marinette said, slumping into her chair. “I just really wanted to talk to him right away.”

“Maybe Chat can patrol tonight,” Tikki suggested. “You could message him and see.”

“Ugh, change is annoyingly difficult! This shouldn’t be _this_ hard,” Marinette complained.

Tikki patted her hand. “You won’t have to wait that long if Chat is available. It’s after noon already.”

“Still too long. I wish… I wish I could just transform and run over there right now!” Marinette exclaimed.

There was a pause, and then Marinette sat up straight.

“Marinette, _no_,” Tikki said sternly.

“Marinette, _yes_,” Marinette countered with a grin.

“Adrien is already in trouble. You don’t want to make it worse!” Tikki said.

“But I’m not going to. I’m just going to see what he’s doing. If he’s locked up alone in his room, then there’s nothing to get him in trouble,” Marinette reasoned, smile widening. “If he’s busy, I’ll just leave and message Chat instead.”

Tikki just stared at her. “I’m not condoning this.”

“Good thing you don’t have to. Tikki, spots on!”

Red light washed over her, transforming her. Ladybug only felt a tiny bit of guilt about it. She’d make it up to Tikki later, maybe by baking a whole batch of Tikki’s favorite triple chocolate cookies.

She just couldn’t wait to see Adrien. She needed to see him _right now_, even if it was from a distance. She clambered up onto her bed and out onto her balcony, then leapt over the side.

“Ready or not, Hot Stuff, here I come!” she shouted into the wind, giggling.


	22. We could have a chance.

It only took about ten minutes to make her way across Paris. Ladybug landed on the little wall below Adrien’s bedroom window and sat there for a moment, composing herself. She didn’t want to pop up and freak out; she wanted to maintain _some_ semblance of composure.

Very carefully, because the wall wasn’t that wide and there was a good chance she could fall off if she wasn’t paying attention, she turned around and got up on her knees. She slowly straightened up and peeked over the frame, hoping that Adrien would be alone.

He wasn’t. Her heart sank as she caught sight of Gabriel, clearly in the process of berating his son. Gabriel’s back was to her so she couldn’t see his face. But Adrien’s head was bowed and his arms were locked behind his back, shoulders slumped. He looked so downtrodden. So _beaten_. Yet still, Gabriel didn’t stop.

Ladybug bit her lip and strained to hear what he was saying. Anger surged through her and she accidentally dug her fingers into the windowsill, leaving small indents, as she listened.

“ - image to think of, Adrien! You can’t be running around town when akuma are happening. It’s dangerous. You are the only heir to the Agreste name. You need to have more of a focus on keeping safe! Sometimes I think I should just have Nathalie take you out of public school and return to home schooling you! At least then I would know where you were at all times.”

Adrien visibly jerked, head snapping up. “No, Père, please! I’ll be more careful from now on, but please don’t take me out of school.”

“Your safety is my first concern,” Gabriel said coldly. “If you can’t abide by my rules -”

“I know. I’m sorry,” Adrien said quickly. “I - I was with one of my classmates and she was scared. I didn’t want to leave her.”

Gabriel seemed unmoved, shaking his head. “That only makes me _more_ inclined to remove you from school. You shouldn’t be putting other people before yourself.”

What a snake! Ladybug scowled ferociously. Adrien was one of the kindest, sweetest, most thoughtful people that she knew. He was always willing to protect other people and put them first. Gabriel should be trying to _nurture_ that attitude in his son, not turn Adrien into someone more like Chloé!

“Please don’t,” Adrien literally begged. “I’ll - I’ll do that photo shoot next week. The one I wasn’t sure about. I’ll do it, if you agree I can stay at my school.”

Gabriel was quiet for a moment. “With none of your surly teenage attitude?”

“Yes,” Adrien said.

“Very well. And from now on, you _will_ abide by the rules.” Gabriel’s tone left no room for argument.

“Right,” Adrien said quietly, downcast. “The next time school is cancelled because of an akuma attack, I’ll come straight home.”

Ladybug had never wanted to punch someone as much as she wanted to punch Gabriel Agreste at that moment. She must have made a sound or something, because Adrien’s head popped up and he looked right at her. His eyes bugged out when he saw her.

Naturally, Gabriel turned around too. Ladybug ducked, pressing herself as closely to the wall as she could and crossing her fingers. Gabriel was _not_going to be happy to find a superhero lurking outside his son’s room. She prayed with all her might that he hadn’t seen her.

Tikki was right; she shouldn’t have come.

She waited in tense silence for a couple of minutes, fully expecting the window above her to be thrown open and a loud voice demanding to know what she thought she was doing. When she heard the scrape of the window opening, her heart stopped and she squeezed her eyes shut -

“He’s gone. You can come in.”

Adrien sounded tired but curious. Not angry that she’d been eavesdropping, though he would have every right to be. Ladybug cautiously stood up, not that she thought Adrien would lie, and just looked up at him until Adrien cocked his head.

“Does he always talk to you like that?” she blurted out before she could stop herself.

“Yeah,” Adrien said, extending his hand to her.

“He was so _mean_,” Ladybug said, grabbing it. Curious, she let Adrien take the brunt of her weight. He hauled her up and over the sill easily. _Too_ easily. He had the kind of strength that a sixteen-year-old boy who didn’t work out shouldn’t have had.

“That’s just the way he is when he thinks I’m getting out of control,” Adrien explained. “It’s okay now. I agreed to do the photo shoot.”

“What photo shoot?” Ladybug asked before realizing that technically, he had no reason to tell her. So far as Adrien knew, they had no real connection to each other. She opened her mouth to apologize but Adrien was already answering.

“One with Lila,” Adrien told her.

“What?” Ladybug said, pulling a horrified face.

Adrien laughed mirthlessly. “That was my initial reaction. It’s okay though. I don’t think it’s going to happen. He won’t want me to have anything to do with Lila once he hears about what happened today. That kind of negative publicity would be quote, bad for my image, unquote.”

“You must get so tired sometimes,” Ladybug said impulsively. She could see the exhaustion in him. She’d always been able to see it, but she’d never really grasped where it came from.

But now… now she _got_ it. Living with a father like Gabriel would be awful. No wonder Chat Noir was a little wild. A little dramatic. A little _too_ extra. That was literally his only chance to be free; the only time he got to do whatever he wanted without the expectations of the Agreste name weighing him down.

“I do,” Adrien said, rubbing the back of his neck - something she’d seen Chat do a lot. It struck her then that Adrien and Chat had so many of the same mannerisms. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed them before.

“But I mean, what choice do I have?” he went on. “He’s my father.”

“It’s not fair,” Ladybug said.

Adrien smiled. “Most things in life aren’t,” he pointed out. “Like I said, we could have a chance to change that when I turn eighteen… um, I-I mean my friends and I. But not until then.”

She was 100% sure in that moment that he hadn’t meant his friends at all; he meant the two of them. Him and her. And she wanted that. She wanted to make life better for her kitty.

Before she could stop herself, she crossed the distance between them and threw her arms around him. Adrien stiffened for all of two seconds before melting into her hug, his arms coming up around her shoulders.

“I know, _Chaton_. And we will,” she whispered. “Tikki, spots off.”


	23. You can’t give more than yourself.

They hugged for a long time, standing there in the middle of Adrien’s room, before Marinette finally made herself pull back far enough to be able to see his face. She didn’t know what she would find there - shock? surprise? confirmation? curiosity? - but she definitely wasn’t expecting awe.

Adrien gently touched her cheek with his fingers, then moved some of the hair that framed her face out of the way. Marinette held perfectly still as he touched her earlobe, his thumb rubbing over her miraculous. She glanced down at his hand, spying his ring.

“I started to wonder if it was you,” Adrien confessed in a whisper, and her attention snapped back to his face to find him staring at her like she was going to disappear.

“What made you wonder?” Marinette asked, her voice no louder.

“That day when you got mad at me for saying bad things about Chat Noir…” A smile brightened Adrien’s eyes, chasing away the lingering shadows. “You had the same fierce look that Ladybug gets when she’s standing up to Hawkmoth. And you sounded exactly like her too.”

Marinette hadn’t thought about that. “Was that it?”

“No… there were some other things too. The timing of everything was really coincidental,” he said, and she nodded because she had figured that out too. “And then there was the whole thing with Lila.”

“We both messed up on that one,” she admitted. “Ladybug shouldn’t have known that Adrien was going to be home too.”

Adrien nodded. “And you said you saw Marinette go into the bakery, but you came from the opposite direction.”

“I did? Ugh. And then I was late. I’m not very good at this secret identity thing, I guess,” Marinette said with a dramatic sigh.

His shoulders shook with suppressed laughter. “Clearly, neither am I if you’re standing in my bedroom.”

“I guess it’s inevitable if we were spending so much time together inside _and_ outside of the suit,” Marinette said, trying to make herself feel better.

But Adrien gave a serious nod and said, “I agree. I know Ladybug and Chat kept as many personal details away from each other as they could, but… there are only so many times that you can ignore the obvious without looking like a _complete_ idiot.”

“Let’s never tell anyone how long it took us to figure it out,” Marinette said.

Adrien laughed outright at that. “Okay, deal. I have to admit, I’m surprised you’re here. I always tried _really_ hard _not_ to figure it out because I knew you didn’t want us to…” he trailed off, looking at her curiously.

“I know. I broke my own rules. I couldn’t help it. Once I started putting things together…” Marinette flailed her hands helplessly. Okay, her list probably hadn’t helped the situation… but she’d needed to _know_.

The boy standing in front of her wasn’t a stranger off the streets that she’d never met before, the way she’d always envisioned Chat would be. He was someone she already knew and loved. Fighting it at this point was just ridiculous. Evidence was just going to continue to mount up until they _couldn’t _ignore it. Marinette wanted it to happen on _their _terms.

“I get it. It’s okay. I don’t think I told you how glad I am that you’re here.” He hugged her, resting his cheek on her head, and it was Marinette’s turn to melt into it.

Now she finally understood why Adrien’s hugs made her feel so safe, like nothing could possibly touch her so long as his arms were around her. Ladybug didn’t get the chance to hug Chat nearly as often as she would have liked; it was thrilling to know that she would no longer have that problem.

“Can I ask you something?” Adrien asked after a couple of minutes.

“Sure,” Marinette said.

“What was up with the whole love confession to Chat Noir before your father got akumatized?”

Marinette froze, then turned bright red and groaned. “Oh shit. I forgot about that,” she muttered, ignoring the giggling she could hear coming from Tikki.

“I just wondered. It was weird. I didn’t think Ladybug felt that way about Chat,” Adrien said. He sounded confused, and Marinette felt a little guilty. She’d certainly succeeded in twisting Adrien up into knots, even if that had never been her intention!

“At the time, I didn’t know I did,” Marinette confessed, pulling out of the hug. She couldn’t look Adrien in the eyes, too embarrassed over that particular disaster. So she turned away and playing with the end of her pigtails.

“Didn’t know you did what?” Adrien said, sounding even _more_ confused, and Marinette sighed.

“Okay, look. When Chat jumped up on my balcony, I had literally just run out of time. I panicked. I thought for sure you were going to say that you thought I was Ladybug,” she said grumpily. “For some reason, my big mouth blurted out that I was in love with you instead.”

She crossed her arms. “I didn’t know how to take it back after Maman and Papa made such a big deal of it. And then when you came to dinner and rejected me, I guess I overreacted a little.”

“A little? I thought I broke your heart! I felt terrible!” Adrien said.

Marinette winced. “I know. I’m sorry. If it helps, it turns out I wasn’t actually wrong about what I said that day.”

“You weren’t?” The naked hope in his voice gave her the courage to turn around again and face him. There was a look on his face that she’d seen many times before, and every time previously Ladybug had been forced to break _his_ heart.

Not today. Marinette shook her head, moving back to him. She took his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers. She squeezed his hand and then looked up at him. It was so easy to picture the mask over his face now, and it felt so natural for them to be standing here together.

“No. I, um, I got really jealous when I found out Chat had a girlfriend,” she said, flushing.

“I was wondering what that was all about! You were acting so weird,” Adrien said. He was clearly floored by the idea that she’d been jealous.

“I know. I think - I was so wrapped up in you, the _civilian_ you, that I didn’t really give Chat Noir a chance. I think I’ve always felt this way. I just didn’t want to acknowledge it. And then once I did, because I had to, it wouldn’t go away,” Marinette explained. “I wanted both of you.”

“Well, you can have us. Me,” Adrien whispered. “You can’t give more than yourself but… that’s all I’ve ever wanted. If you… if you tell me how you feel…”

Marinette swallowed, her heart thumping with nerves. She could do this, she told herself. It was Adrien. It was Chat. One boy, the love of her life, who was looking at her with so much hope in his eyes that it ached.

She brought this hand up to her lips and kissed it, and said, with as much confidence as she could muster, “Adrien, my kitty, I love you.”


	24. Patience is not what I’m known for.

Adrien’s eyes widened as she spoke. His shoulders slumped and his lips parted with a breath of… relief, maybe, or just gratitude. She couldn’t tell, but she liked it either way. It was his turn to pull their joined hands to his lips, kissing the back of her hand so sweetly that Marinette was speechless.

And then he said: “I fell in love with this beautiful, smart, spunky girl the first time she stood up to a terrorist. She was scared and nervous, but she still wasn’t afraid to stand up for everyone in Paris in spite of that. She was everything I’m not, and I loved her for that.”

Marinette instinctively opened her mouth to argue against that, because there were plenty of times Adrien and Chat had stood up for what was right, but Adrien used his free hand to put his finger over her lips to quiet her.

“Then there was this classmate of mine. Plagg always used to call her my girlfriend, but I corrected him every time because I was so caught up in my partner that I couldn’t see how amazing this other girl was.”

“Told you so!” Plagg called out from wherever he was hidden. Adrien just rolled his eyes as Marinette smiled.

“A few weeks ago, Nino told me that this classmate didn’t dislike me. That the reason she got so nervous around me was because she _liked_me. The _real_ me. Not the model everyone else fans over. That… that blew me away. I started seeing her differently.”

Marinette couldn’t help it. She said, “I knew it was Nino.”

“Yeah, secrets aren’t always his forté,” Adrien said. “But I’m really glad he told me, because it meant that I ended up asking out this girl. And she was so much _more_ than I ever imagined. I was really in trouble for a while there, caught between two equally wonderful girls.” He grinned mischievously.

“That day in the car,” Marinette said hesitantly. “After Manon got akumatized again… you said you liked a girl who didn’t like your sense of humor. I assumed you meant Kagami…” She looked up at him.

Adrien’s eyebrows furrowed at first, then he understood and shook his head. “Oh! No. I meant Ladybug. I didn’t want to just say that, though. Nino used to tease me about having a celebrity crush on Ladybug and I can’t exactly tell people why that isn’t true. I didn’t want you to think I was that shallow.”

“You’re not shallow at all,” Marinette said. “Finding out you had a crush on Ladybug would’ve destroyed me. In all the best ways, of course.”

“I’m a little bit shallow,” Adrien said. “And dumb. Dumb enough not to realize that I don’t just have a fondness for girls with black hair and blue eyes. It’s all about _one_ girl in particular. Marinette, My Lady, I love you.”

Her heart lurched at the sound of the words. Marinette stared at him, drinking in the earnest expression on his face, the way his lips formed those words, the utterly _tender_ way he was speaking to her. The sheer intimacy of the moment sent shivers down her spine.

“And if you’d let me, I’d _really_ love to keep being your boyfriend,” Adrien went on. “I know it’s too dangerous for Ladybug and Chat to date, but I really hope you don’t feel that way about Marinette and Adrien?”

She wasn’t capable of forming words past the lump in her throat. Marinette settled on shaking her head so hard that the tips of her pigtails slapped her cheeks. And then, to make sure Adrien took that the way she intended, she closed the distance between them and leaned up to kiss him.

In many ways, it was like their first kiss. The only kiss they’d ever shared where there were no secrets or masks between them. Marinette felt that kiss right down to the tips of her toes, and she basked in the familiar, warm sensation that bloomed in her belly.

This was Adrien. This was Chat. This was her boyfriend. This was her partner. This was her whole world wrapped up in one incredible person, and he was all hers. If Marinette never experienced another stroke of ladybug luck in her life, she would still consider herself to be the luckiest person alive.

“Yes,” she said when their kiss ended, just in case he hadn’t gotten the hint. “Yes, Adrien. I still want to be your girlfriend.”

“Good… _Ma Belle_,” he said, eyes twinkling.

Marinette’s shoulders slumped. “You had me so worked up about that, you dumb cat.”

Adrien laughed lightly. “I said I was sorry. I was trying to be fair to both Marinette _and_ Ladybug. Though I do wonder if I should be jealous that you didn’t come up with any nicknames for Adrien when you had plenty for Chat Noir.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, Hot Stuff,” Marinette retorted before she could stop herself. Then she was treated to the sheer pleasure of watching Adrien Agreste turn as red as her ladybug suit, and couldn’t help giggling.

“You made him speechless. Good job, Pigtails,” Plagg called out.

“Where are you?” Marinette looked around. She knew their kwamis were nearby, but she wasn’t sure where until a box on Adrien’s desk shifted and Plagg and Tikki flew out from behind it.

“Hi,” Plagg said, grinning at her.

“Hi,” Marinette said, smiling back.

“Hello again, Adrien!” Tikki said.

Adrien made a muffled sound that might’ve been a greeting. He was still bright red and appeared to be trying to get his blush under control. Marinette kind of hoped he couldn’t. Seeing him like this was absolutely adorable and she was fully enjoying it.

“Now that it’s all out in the open, will you bring me some of that cheesecake your father makes?” Plagg asked.

“Plagg!” Adrien said. “You could at least not ask her that in the first five minutes.”

“It’s been like _two years_ since you two first met each other. Patience is not what I’m known for, Kid,” Plagg retorted.

Adrien put his hand over his face and sighed. “I apologize for him.”

“It’s okay,” Marinette said, trying not to giggle. “It is really good cheesecake.”

“See? Marinette understands my needs,” Plagg said.

“Marinette doesn’t have to live with you twenty-four hours a day,” Tikki said dryly.

Plagg scoffed. “She will soon. Once those two get married.”

Marinette squeaked and Adrien sputtered. Plagg gave them a wicked smirk, while Tikki just chuckled.

But Marinette recovered quickly, and put her hands on her hips. “If you think I’m baking you a cheesecake every day once that happens, Plagg, you have another thought coming.”

“Spoilsport,” Plagg mumbled.

“I’m not gonna let you eat us out of house and home,” Marinette replied, aiming for stern over flustered.

“That’s right, lay down the law now,” Adrien said in her ear. When she dared to glance at him, he was blushing but beaming. Tentatively, she smiled back.


	25. I could really eat something

Marinette opened her eyes and found herself staring at a familiar ceiling from an unfamiliar position - why wasn’t she in the middle of her bed? She squinted, confused at first, and then realized that there were two arms wrapped around her midsection. Remembering what had happened yesterday, she relaxed into the warmth at her back and smiled.

She and Adrien had talked and kissed for hours before Adrien had to go for supper. Ladybug had hung out on the rooftop across the street until Chat could join her for a patrol. At the end of it, Chat hadn’t wanted to leave and she couldn’t bring herself to send him away. Instead, she’d ended up bringing him home.

So now Adrien was sound asleep against her back, and she wasn’t sure where Plagg was, but Tikki was curled up on the pillow beside Marinette’s head. Marinette untangled her hand from the blankets and gently stroked her kwami, which woke Tikki up. Tikki yawned and stretched, blue eyes bright.

“Good morning,” Marinette whispered.

“Good morning. You look happy,” Tikki whispered back with a knowing smile.

“I’m _really_ happy,” Marinette admitted with a happy wiggle. “It’s a huge weight off my mind to know I don’t have to worry about losing either one of them.”

“I told you everything would be okay,” Tikki said slyly. “I wanted to tell you _so_ much, but it’s always best if Ladybug and Chat Noir figure out who each other is on their own.”

“It’s okay. I get it,” Marinette said. She was too happy to be miffed. And honestly, having Tikki tell her the truth would’ve felt cheap. She had _worked _for this revelation, damnit. She and Adrien deserved all the happiness in the _world_ after all that effort.

Speaking of… she rolled over carefully, looking at her sleeping kitty. He seemed so peaceful that she almost hated to wake him up, but she couldn’t resist. She scooted a bit closer and leaned down, gently pressing their mouths together. His lips didn’t remain slack for long; she could tell the moment the woke up because he immediately started to kiss her back.

“Mm, best way to wake up,” Adrien mumbled. “Can we always do this?”

“Not yet. Soon,” Marinette said softly. “But in the meantime, as much as we can. I like waking up in your arms.”

Adrien smiled at that, opening his eyes finally. His green eyes were soft and affectionate. “I like waking up to find you here. Now I know it’s not a dream.”

“Nope,” Marinette said, kissing him again. “Wanna go out for breakfast?”

“Sure. Meet you outside?” Adrien sat up, running a hand through his hair. “Ah, scratch that. How about in forty-five minutes? I really need to shower and change.”

Marinette nodded. “Works for me.” She kissed him one last time, and that turned into several kisses until, giggling, Adrien pulled away.

“Plagg, claws out!” he said. Five seconds and a flash of green light later, Chat was sitting in Marinette’s bed.

“Oh, wow,” Marinette breathed.

“What?” Chat said, cocking his head in that adorably kitty way of his.

“I never thought I’d get to have Chat Noir in my bed,” Marinette admitted. “I like it.”

He flushed but gave her a a slow smile, leaning towards her with a look that could only be described as wicked, and a deepened voice. “I can be in your bed _anytime_ you like, Princess.”

“Nope,” Marinette said, putting her hand over his face and pushing him back. “I am not equipped to deal with this at 8am.”

Chat started laughing. “Does that mean I can tease you as much as I want later?”

“Keep it up and we’ll see just how much Ladybug can tease,” Marinette shot back.

But rather than look intimidated, Chat’s face took on a dreamy cast. “Yes, _please_.”

“Oh for - go, _Chaton_,” Marinette said, embarrassed by how much of an effect one sultry look could have on her.

He giggled and stood, scrambling out the widow atop her bed. Marinette watched him go, pretending that her heart wasn’t hammering against her ribs. It really wasn’t fair that Adrien was so gorgeous, or that he knew exactly how to make those kitty ears and mask work for him.

“Earth to Marinette,” Tikki sang. “Come in, Marinette.”

“I’m with you,” Marinette said automatically. “What?”

“I could really eat something,” Tikki hinted. “And you could tell your parents about Adrien while you’re getting me food.”

“Ugh, right,” Marinette said. Adrien had told her that he’d been upfront with his father before even asking Marinette out. He hadn’t wanted Gabriel to throw a hissy fit over only finding out about their relationship after the fact. Surprisingly, Gabriel had seemed to be okay with the idea.

Marinette, on the other hand, had purposely delayed telling her parents the truth. Not because they’d be mad, oh no. It was just the opposite. Her parents _loved_ Adrien and were going to be embarrassingly gushy when they found out she and Adrien were dating, not to mention the teasing Marinette was bound to have to endure.

She supposed Tikki was right. Now that she knew Adrien was Chat and he knew she was Ladybug, it felt like their relationship had gotten a serious upgrade overnight. Her parents didn’t have to know just _how_ serious they were, but they still needed to know.

“It’ll be okay,” Tikki said encouragingly. “The sooner you get it over with, the better!”

“You just want cookies,” Marinette said, amused in spite of herself, but she got up and took a quick shower and dressed in jeans, a red top, a black jacket and black boots.

Only then did she go downstairs. It was Saturday, so her parents were both busy in the bakery. In between customers, Marinette asked her mother to come into the kitchen for a moment. She stood before them, unaccountably nervous.

“What is it?” Sabine asked.

“Adrien and I are dating,” Marinette blurted out.

“Oh, Marinette! That’s wonderful!” Sabine exclaimed.

“I’m glad that boy finally woke up and saw how amazing you are,” Tom added, beaming. “When is he coming for supper?”

“Uh…. tonight?” Marinette said, realizing that she should’ve expected that question. She hoped Adrien was free.

“Excellent! I’ll prepare something special,” Tom said. Based on what had happened when Chat invited, he no doubt meant something love-themed and _highly_ embarrassing. Marinette facepalmed.

“Papa, please don’t go overboard,” she groaned, but Tom wasn’t listening. He was already heading back into the kitchen loudly talking about baking heart-shaped cupcakes.

Sabine chuckled. “I’ll try to reign him in. I’m so happy for you, Marinette.” She gave Marinette a hug.

“Thanks, Maman,” Marinette said, smiling. “I’m happy too.”

“Good.” Sabine rested her hand on Marinette’s shoulders, smile fading to a serious look. “You’re still taking your birth control, right?”

“_Maman_!”

“Marinette,” Sabine said sternly.

“Yes,” Marinette said, mortified. “But Adrien and I have only been on a couple dates. We’re not even _close_ to that!”

Sabine hummed and smiled again. “You say that now, but when your hormones take over… why, I remember when your papa and I were dating and the first time we had -”

“Leaving now!” Marinette yelped, clapping her hands to her ears. “Bye!”

The sound of Sabine’s laughter followed her out into the bakery. Marinette quickly grabbed some cookies for Tikki before racing out the door.


	26. You keep me warm

As promised, Adrien was waiting for her right outside the bakery. Marinette practically barreled into him in her haste to get away from her maman; he caught her by the shoulders, laughing, and she smiled in spite of herself as she hugged him with her free arm. He was warm and smelled like his favorite shampoo, and she couldn’t resist leaning up and sneaking a quick kiss.

“Hello again,” she said. “You always keep me so warm. I love that.”

“I am here to be your personal heater,” Adrien murmured. “What’s the rush?”

“You don’t wanna know, believe me,” Marinette said with a groan and a shudder. She definitely couldn’t tell him that Sabine had been asking about birth control. Just the idea of _why_ she would need birth control was threatening to fry Marinette’s brain.

“I don’t?” Adrien repeated, looking curious.

“You don’t. However, you should know you’ve been invited to supper tonight. So I hope you’re free,” she said, opening her purse and dropping in the cookies for Tikki.

“Really?” Adrien’s eyes lit up. Then, abruptly, his enthusiasm dimmed. “Wait, is this going to be as awkward as the last time I got invited for supper?”

“Totally,” Marinette said with a sigh, linking their arms together. “Expect a lot of heart-shaped food and Papa asking about your intentions towards me. On the plus side, you won’t have to worry about rejecting me this time.” She patted his arm comfortingly.

“That’s true. I can sit through an awkward meal, and I don’t even mind being grilled about my intentions… so long as I never have to face your papa as an akuma again. He was really strong,” Adrien said.

Remembering how Chat had literally collapsed in her arms after the fight was over, Marinette frowned. “I really am sorry about that.”

Adrien shook his head. “It’s not your fault, _Ma Belle_,” he said, putting his hand over hers.

She wondered if that nickname would ever make her heart stop fluttering. Probably not. Marinette opened her mouth to respond and then paused when her phone rang. She freed a hand to fish it out of her pocket, wondering who would be contacting her this early - and then froze. Adrien looked at her face and then at the screen.

“It’s Alya,” Marinette said numbly.

“Are you going to answer?” Adrien asked.

“I don’t know. I probably should, right?” As Marinette spoke, the call ended. She bit her lip, feeling bad.

Alya hadn’t contacted her all day yesterday and into today, but Marinette had noticed last night that the footage of the akuma’s attack on Lila had finally made it to the Ladyblog. So that meant Alya was aware of what had happened, and had come to terms with it at least somewhat… but she hadn’t reached out to Marinette until now.

“You haven’t talked to her?” Adrien said quietly.

Marinette shook her head. “I’ve been with you. And I told myself I wasn’t contacting her first.”

“Do you want to talk to her?” he asked.

“Yes. No. Kind of.” Marinette sighed. “Alya’s my best friend. I kind of have to, don’t I?”

“Only if you want to,” Adrien said, but he didn’t really look like he believed that.

They both jumped when Marinette’s phone buzzed again, this time with a text. Naturally it was from Alya, asking if Marinette had the time to talk today. Marinette chewed her lower lip. She wanted to talk to Alya, but _only_ if Alya had come to her senses. If this was going to be a talk where Alya continued to insist that Lila was innocent, Marinette wasn’t interested.

“You can invite her to meet us for breakfast if you want?” Adrien suggested. “That way, I can be there for silent support.”

“Are you sure?” Marinette said.

He smiled at her. “Alya can’t be any worse than your akumatized papa.”

“You’d be surprised,” Marinette muttered, but responded to the text telling Alya where to meet them.

“It’ll be okay. Alya is stubborn, but even she can’t ignore the evidence staring her in the face,” Adrien said as they started walking again. “It would surprise me if Lila comes back to school on Monday. I think she’ll be too embarrassed to show her face.”

“She _should_ be embarrassed,” Marinette said. “I hope she doesn’t. I could very happily live the rest of my life never seeing Lila Rossi again, and I’m sure you could too.”

Adrien couldn’t argue with that, just squeezed her hand. Marinette could feel her anxiety mounting as they got closer to the restaurant and she spotted Alya already sitting out front. Alya must have run over the moment she got Marinette’s text. Either that, or she’d already been on her way to the bakery. She tightened her grip on Adrien’s hand, heart racing.

“Hi Alya,” she said shakily once they were close enough.

Alya’s head whipped up and she jumped to her feet. “You’re here. You came.”

“You said you wanted to talk to me,” Marinette said cautiously.

“I did. I just wasn’t sure _you’d_ want to talk to _me_,” Alya said. “Not after how I treated you.”

That sounded promising, but Marinette still couldn’t help prompting. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry,” Alya blurted out. “I should’ve listened to you when you tried to tell me about Lila. I’m sorry that I dismissed everything because I thought you were jealous over Adrien. I’m sorry that I never took you seriously when you said Lila was lying to everyone. I’m sorry that I believed everything she said, and I’m sorry that it took me so long to figure the truth out.” She grabbed Marinette’s free hand. “I’m _so sorry_, Marinette.”

“You are? Really?” Marinette said in a small voice. “You believe me now?”

Alya nodded frantically. “I couldn’t believe it when I watched that video. I felt so stupid… I’m such an idiot. I bought into what she said hook, line and sinker without even _questioning _her. I’m supposed to be a journalist and I just -” Her eyes were filling up with tears. “I’m so fucking _stupid_, Marinette, I’m so sorry.”

“You’re not stupid.” Marinette stepped forward and hugged her friend as Alya broke down crying. “A lot of people got taken in by her, Alya. You weren’t the only one. Lila is really, really good at lying.”

“I hate her,” Alya said, crying. “And I hate myself.”

Marinette hugged her tighter. “Don’t talk that way about my best friend, got it?”

“We’re still best friends?” Alya whispered.

“Hell yeah we are,” Marinette said fiercely. It might take some time for her and Alya to get back to where they used to be, but - “Lila’s taken a lot from me. I won’t let her take you too.” She looked at Adrien over Alya’s shoulder. He winked at her and smiled, and, even though she was teary eyed herself, Marinette managed to smile back.


	27. Can you wait for me?

“Let’s sit down,” Adrien suggested after a couple of minutes. Perhaps he was uncomfortable standing there while Alya cried, or maybe he could see that Marinette was feeling increasingly off-kilter. Or both. Either way, Marinette nodded eagerly.

“Good idea,” she said, sliding out of Alya’s grip. She was relieved to take a seat at the table and get a chance to re-orient herself, and felt a little better when Adrien sat down beside her and reached over to take her hand.

“Can you wait for me? I just need the bathroom,” Alya said.

“How are you?” Adrien asked after Alya had gone.

“I’m okay, I think. I’m relieved. And glad. I was so afraid she’d still think Lila was right,” Marinette said.

Adrien brought her hand up and kissed the back of it. “I’m glad too.”

Alya came back after a couple minutes and sat down too, sniffing and wiping at her eyes with a napkin. As she reached for her water glass, her eyes fell on Marinette’s and Adrien’s joined hands. A small smile crossed Alya’s face and she took a sip of water before she spoke.

“I’m really glad you two managed to get together,” she said. “I’m glad Lila didn’t ruin that.”

“I’m not gonna lie, Lila probably made it harder than it should’ve been,” Adrien said.

“I know. Lila really had me believing that she liked you, Adrien. I actually felt bad for her because I know how perfect you and Marinette are together,” Alya said. An angry look crossed her face. “Now I realize that Lila probably never liked _you_. She just liked the model version of you.”

“You’re not wrong, I’m sure,” Marinette said, exchanging a glance with Adrien. Marinette wasn’t even sure that Lila knew _how_ to genuinely like or love someone. Certainly, had Lila discovered that Adrien was Chat Noir, that would’ve been the end of her infatuation with Adrien.

“Sometimes I wonder if Lila only liked me because she knew Marinette liked me,” Adrien said.

Alya sighed. “That… that makes a lot of sense, actually. I guess I owe you an apology too, Adrien. I shouldn’t have turned a blind eye to all those times Lila was pushing herself on you.”

“It’s okay,” Adrien said kindly. “I’m used to it.”

This time Marinette exchanged a glance with Alya, because hearing that Adrien was used to people pushing themselves on him when he didn’t want that wasn’t exactly comforting… but that was a matter for another day, Marinette decided. Now wasn’t the time to get distracted from the topic at hand.

She pasted on a serious expression and looked Alya right in the eyes. “So if you understand now that Lila has been lying from day one, you should probably take that interview she did for the Ladyblog down. It’s full of bullshit.”

“Already done. I did it first thing this morning. I was already getting some flack over it,” Alya said, wincing. “People have been messaging me to ask why I didn’t verify my sources.”

“That’s an important skill for a journalist to have,” Adrien pointed out.

“I know. And I should’ve. I was just so desperate for any information about Ladybug. Lila’s interview made me number one for a while.” Alya sighed and played with her fork. “Now that I think about it, I can’t believe I fell for it all. A sixteen-year-old could never have done all the things Lila says she has, never mind met all the people she claims to have met. She’d have to be like a princess or someone super famous, not a diplomat’s daughter.”

“I think Lila is very good at telling people what they want to hear,” Marinette replied tactfully.

Alya looked up sharply. “But _you_ didn’t believe her.”

“Uh, well…” Marinette realized she should’ve expected this line of thinking. She couldn’t exactly tell Alya the whole truth. There was too much of the story that only Ladybug would know about. And Alya, in spite of everything that had happened, really wasn’t stupid. She would be able to connect the dots.

“You knew from the start that she was lying. _How_did you know?” Alya leaned forward.

Marinette thought quickly, aware that every second deepened Alya’s curiosity, and finally said, “In the beginning I was jealous. You weren’t exactly wrong about that. So I think I was just less inclined to believe what she said from the start. And then I started noticing inconsistencies in her stories.”

“Like how she claimed she hurt her right wrist, but then a few hours later she said it was her left,” Adrien said, rolling his eyes.

Marinette nodded. “After that, it became clear to me pretty quickly that Lila was lying all the time. And then after she threatened me -”

“What?!” Adrien exclaimed.

“She what?” Alya said at the same time.

“You never told me that,” Adrien said, looking upset.

“I guess I never told anyone. It didn’t seem to matter. She just said she’d make sure I ended up alone and that all my friends, including Adrien, would hate me,” Marinette said. In retrospect, the threat was laughable.

Lila may have had some degree of control over Marinette’s school life. And okay, she’d even managed to make Marinette’s own parents doubt her. But the one thing Lila could _never_ do was drive a wedge between Ladybug and Chat Noir. She squeezed Adrien’s hand and smiled, but Adrien didn’t look happy. If anything, he looked pissed.

“I can’t believe that bitch said that to you,” he growled. Had he been transformed, his kitty ears would’ve been standing straight up and his tail would’ve been lashing the air in agitation.

“Well, I guess it means she knew I was a threat,” Marinette said. “Anyway, after that I tried to keep my distance from her because I knew she wasn’t going to let up. And I didn’t want anyone else to get caught in the crossfire.”

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to help you,” Alya said, biting her lip. “I was so _oblivious_ to what was really going on.” She sounded completely disgusted.

“Well… I accept your apology,” Marinette said. “It might take some time for me to forgive you all the way, though.”

“That’s fine. I get it. I’m not sure you should forgive me at all,” Alya said, wiping her eyes again. “Much as it pains me to say it, thank god for Hawkmoth. Who knows how long it would’ve taken before anyone else caught onto Lila?”

“I always hoped she’d trip up eventually,” Marinette admitted. “All it would take was one big enough lie that didn’t make sense, but she always seemed to be able to cover her tracks.”

“She’s a really accomplished liar,” Alya said with a bitter smile. “I guess it helped that she surrounded herself with a bunch of naive idiots.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Marinette said.

“I would. So Adrien, how did _you_ know she was lying?” Alya asked, turning to Adrien.

Adrien seemed surprised by the question. “Uh… well, I was kind of like Marinette I guess? Too much of what Lila said didn’t make sense or contradicted itself. I’m used to dealing with people like that in my line of work, though.”

“Then why didn’t you ever say anything?” Alya asked, frowning. “Maybe we would’ve believed Marinette if you’d spoken up too!”

“Hey!” Marinette said angrily before Adrien could respond. “Alya, that is _not_ fair. Don’t blame this on Adrien. You should’ve been able to believe _me_. You shouldn’t need the word of someone else! Besides, what makes you think you would’ve believed Adrien anyway? What makes you think you wouldn’t have blown him off too and dismissed him the same way you did me?!”

Alya shrunk back in her chair. “Well - I -”

“I know you’re upset, but don’t go blaming people who don’t deserve it,” Marinette said, attempting to soften her tone. They didn’t need Alya getting akumatized again.

“You’re right. Sorry,” Alya mumbled.

“It’s fine. Alya’s right. I should’ve spoken up,” Adrien said. “I thought it was fine as long as Lila wasn’t really hurting anyone. But I was wrong. She was hurting _you_. I let that happen.” He looked at Marinette with such pain and regret in his face that Marinette’s heart broke.

“It’s okay now,” she said gently to him. “I’m not mad at you, Adrien. Or at you, Alya. What matters is that Lila’s lies are out in the open and she can’t hurt _anyone_ anymore.”


	28. Enough! I heard enough

Adrien separated from them once they finished breakfast, citing a photo shoot. Marinette watched him go with a worried frown, hoping that he wasn’t beating himself up over Lila. He’d made the best decision that he felt he could based on the information she’d given him at the time. He wasn’t omniscient; he hadn’t known just what a bitch Lila could be.

“Hey. So, uh, we haven’t spent much time together just you and me for a while. Wanna go shopping?” Alya asked, pulling Marinette’s attention back to her.

Marinette blinked but nodded. “Sure. Sounds like fun. But I gotta be home by three. Adrien is coming for supper tonight.”

“That sounds fun,” Alya said.

“More like embarrassing,” Marinette corrected her. “Maman and Papa always go _way_ overboard when my friends are around, and they’re gonna be _so much worse_ with Adrien.”

Alya smiled. “Well… maybe Adrien could use a little worse,” she said. “God knows his own dad doesn’t care about him.”

“Unfortunately, you’re not wrong,” Marinette muttered. She kind of hoped she never had to sit down to a meal with Gabriel Agreste. It wouldn’t be easy to eat when she was having to bite her tongue.

She followed Alya into a few of the stores, but her heart wasn’t really into shopping now. Before, she had, for the most part, been able to put aside how blind Alya was being for the sake of their friendship. But now that it was all out in the open, Marinette couldn’t help feeling like things were _off_. It just wasn’t the same as usual.

Alya must have felt it too, because her enthusiasm was noticeably lacking. After only a couple stores, Alya left with the excuse that she had to baby-sit her little sister’s for the afternoon. Marinette watched her go, her chest heavy.

“What do you think, Tikki?” she asked later, when she was alone in her room with only her kwami for company. “Has Lila ruined things between me and Alya forever?”

“No, of course not,” Tikki said immediately. “It might take some time for you guys to feel comfortable around each other, but you and Alya are too good of friends to let someone like Lila ruin that.”

“Maybe. I just feel awkward around her now,” Marinette said, looking down at her sewing machine. “I hate that.”

“Give it time,” Tikki repeated, nuzzling Marinette’s shoulder comfortingly. “You and Alya might never go back to how you were, but that doesn’t mean your friendship can’t evolve to new heights. You’ve both learned some hard lessons, and you’ve both grown a lot. That’s not a bad thing, Marinette. Growth is good.”

“It was just easier before,” Marinette mumbled. She and Alya had clicked so easily from the first day they met each other. Those first seven or eight months, before Lila came on scene, had been wonderful.

And honestly, Marinette missed that a lot. There was already so much that she had to lie to Alya about in terms of being Ladybug. She didn’t like having to watch her words to make sure that she didn’t accidentally besmirch Lila in some way and make Alya mad on top of that. For a while there, there had been a lot of subjects that Marinette had to dance around with all of her classmates, not just Alya.

“I know. But you’re all growing up,” Tikki said wisely. “Something was bound to happen sooner or later. You’ll get there again. It might be a little different, but it’ll still be awesome. I promise.”

Marinette finally smiled. “Thanks, Tikki. I don’t know what I’d do without you!” She turned her head and kissed the top of Tikki’s head in gratitude.

Tikki giggled. “I don’t know what you’d do without me either!”

“Probably stay in bed and scream all day,” Marinette said wryly. She finally turned the sewing machine back on.

“What are you making?” Tikki asked, peering down at the fabric. “Oh! Wait, isn’t that the green fabric Adrien bought you?”

The memory brought another, softer smile to Marinette’s lips. It was hard to believe that her and Adrien’s first date had only been a few weeks ago. Remembering how flustered she’d been made at the time Marinette want to laugh now. If only she’d known that Adrien was Chat then!

“Yeah, it is. He was so kind to buy it for me that I decided to make him something,” Marinette explained. “What do you think?”

She gently removed the fabric from the machine and held it up for Tikki’s inspection. It was a thicker, warmer material than Marinette usually worked with, so she’d abandoned her initial idea of a t-shirt and designed a hoodie instead. Plus, it was getting cold out so she knew he’d get more use out of a hoodie this time of year.

Because it was for Adrien, she had affixed two, fabric black cat ears to the top of the hood. They’d stand up straight when Adrien had the hood up. Then, on the front of the hoodie, she was embroidering the words “Check MEOW-T” in black thread. On the back, up near the right shoulder, she had five black paw prints surrounding a little red ladybug.

“Oh my god,” Tikki said. “Adrien is gonna die when he sees this.”

“It’s not too much?” Marinette said anxiously. “I debated a long time over what to write on the front. He’s such a dork about puns that I knew I had to go with one, but my god there’s a lot of cat puns out there! And then I didn’t know if the design on the back would be too much or if it was risking our identities -”

“Enough! I’ve heard enough,” Tikki said, holding her paws up to stem the flow of words. “Marinette, it’s _perfect_. Anyone who sees it will just think that Adrien is a fan of Chat Noir. No one will jump to the conclusion he _is_ Chat Noir. And as for the pun, you could’ve picked any of them and it would’ve been perfect just because you know Adrien well enough to know he loves puns. He’s going to love it. Really.”

Marinette relaxed, fingering the soft green material. “I really hope so. I want to give it to him before he leaves today. I’ve been working on it for a while.”

“What do you have left to do?” Tikki asked curiously.

“Umm… just the black embroidery on the front. Oh, and I guess I have to finish this pocket for Plagg.” She briskly flipped the hoodie inside out and showed Tikki the partially sewn pocket on the inside chest. It was perfectly sized for a kwami - Marinette knew that for a fact because she had Tikki’s measurements, and Tikki and Plagg were roughly the same size.

“Then you better hurry up. It’s already after four. Isn’t Adrien coming at six?” Tikki said.

“Oh crap! I didn’t realize it was so late! I gotta hurry!” Marinette quickly sat back down and began lining things up.

She _really_ hoped Adrien liked this. It was more than just a gift. It was a promise: a physical manifestation of how _happy_ she was that Adrien had turned out to be her partner. With everything that had gone on, she thought Adrien might need that. Every time he wore this, she wanted him to know he was loved.

Which meant she had to hurry. With a determined smile, Marinette bent her head and got to work.


	29. I’m doing this for you.

Adrien was prompt as always, shyly knocking at the back door at exactly six. Marinette rushed to open the door before her papa could and could tell that he’d come straight from his photo shoot, because there were still traces of make-up on his face and his hair had been professionally styled.

“Hi,” she said, smiling.

“Hi,” Adrien said. He swallowed awkwardly and brought his arm out from behind his back to show her the bouquet of red roses he was holding.

Her _heart_. This boy was too sweet. Marinette took the roses and buried her nose in them, inhaling their fragrance. No sooner had she looked up with the intention to say thank you than Adrien brought his other arm out and handed her a second bouquet of pink roses. She stared at the two bouquets, befuddled.

“One to admire and one to eat,” Adrien said with a crooked smile.

“Oh, _Chaton_. You’re the most thoughtful person,” Marinette said, delighted and embarrassed in turn. Aside from Tikki, Adrien and she assumed Plagg, no one else knew about her secret passion for eating flowers. It would’ve been really hard to keep her hands (and mouth!) off the delicate petals.

Adrien flushed. “I just wanted you to have some to display too. Maybe you can take half from each bouquet to put them in a vase or something.”

“I’ll do just that,” Marinette said, tucking the two bouquets into the crook of her arm. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.” Adrien didn’t move, just stood there and nervously chewed at his bottom lip. It was adorable.

“You’ll be fine,” Marinette told him.

Adrien nodded. “I know. Because I’m doing this for you. I can do anything for you.”

Marinette had to kiss him after that, running her free hand through his hair to mess up the strands a bit. She knew he hated it when he had to look _too_perfect. The kiss went on for longer then she’d intended, until finally she had to pull away or risk her parents walking in.

“Come on in,” she said. “Supper is just about ready.”

Adrien removed his shoes and followed her into the living room. She directed him to sit and slipped into the kitchen. Mercifully, neither her maman nor papa were in the room. She quickly divided the roses and put several into a vase, then tucked the others away at the back of the fridge. They’d make a delicious snack for her later.

“Adrien!” Sabine’s voice said loudly. “It’s so nice to see you again!”

Oops. Marinette hurried back out into the living room just in time to see her maman accosting her boyfriend with a huge hug. Adrien looked a little alarmed at first, but he melted into the hug quickly enough. Naturally, Sabine only took that as permission to squeeze him that much harder.

When Sabine finally released him, Tom was standing right here with a hand stuck out. “Hello, son!”

“Hello, sir,” Adrien greeted softly.

“No need to call me ‘sir,’ Adrien. Tom and Sabine is just fine… for now, anyway,” Tom said. He winked. “Who knows, maybe someday you’ll be calling us Maman and Papa too!”

“_Papa_!” Marinette hissed, her cheeks reddening, and saw an identical blush sweeping across Adrien’s face. Somewhere, she was sure, Plagg was laughing his head off. For that matter, Tikki probably was too.

Tom chuckled. “I’m just saying,” he said innocently.

“Well, don’t. You’re embarrassing us,” Marinette said, walking over to stand beside Adrien. She narrowed her eyes at her papa warningly.

“It’s okay,” Adrien said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “Umm… I think I’ll stick with Tom and Sabine for now… if that’s okay?”

“Of course it is, Sweetheart,” Sabine said. “Come sit down with us.”

She wrapped an arm around Adrien’s shoulders and ushered him through the door. Marinette followed, trailed by her grinning papa. Adrien sat in the same seat as last time, and Marinette took her seat beside him. She patted his arm comfortingly as her parents served their meal.

Sabine must’ve done the majority of the cooking this time, because it was a thick stew as opposed to heart-shaped everything… but of course, the rolls that Tom brought over were still heart-shaped. Marinette rolled her eyes over them as Adrien gave a knowing smile.

“So tell us about yourself, Adrien. All we know is what Marinette’s said,” Sabine said and then, when Adrien looked panicked, she gently prompted: “You model for your dad?”

“Yes,” Adrien said, clearly more at ease as he started talking about modeling, and Marinette shot her maman a grateful look. Sabine winked back.

“Is modeling what you want to do full time?” Tom asked. “I need to know how you plan to support my baby girl.”

Marinette facepalmed. “Papa, I can support _myself_.”

“Actually I’m not sure what I want to do, but I don’t think I’ll model forever. It’s not something I really enjoy,” Adrien replied. “I do it because my father wants me to.”

“That’s too bad,” Sabine said, frowning deeply.

Adrien shrugged. “It’s interesting,” he said diplomatically. “I don’t know… perhaps I’ll become a baker.” His eyes twinkled with mischief as he glanced at Marinette.

Predictably, Tom lit up. “My word! Sabine, did you hear that?! A son-in-law who wants to take over the family bakery! It’s everything I’ve ever wanted!”

Sabine giggled. “I heard him.”

“We’re not even married yet,” Marinette said helplessly.

Tom waved a hand at her. “Details, details. I must say, Adrien, I like you _much_ better than the last boy Marinette brought home!”

Marinette gave up, burying her face in her hands and groaning.

Adrien sounded like he was trying not to laugh when he said, “I appreciate that. I care about Marinette very much. _I_ would _never_ break her heart.”

She peeked at Adrien through her fingers and scowled when she saw the grin on his face. What a little shit.

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Tom said, clapping a hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “You’re the good kind of boy our Mari deserves.”

Adrien visibly blossomed at that, his grin fading into something more genuine and soft, and Marinette’s annoyance faded away remarkably quickly. It was hard to be annoyed when Adrien was so clearly savoring being adored. She imagined it wasn’t something he got to enjoy very often.

She sighed and decided to lighten up. “Just think, Papa, you can start teaching Adrien your recipes now! Your _dozens_ and _dozens_ of recipes,” she said with a wicked smile. Adrien’s eyes widened.

“Great idea! I’ll get my recipe book!” Tom jumped up and rushed out of the room.

Sabine stood with a laugh. “Don’t worry, Adrien. I’ll distract him with dessert.” She collected a few plates and left the room.

“Dozens?” Adrien repeated the instant she was gone.

“You didn’t think being a baker would be easy, did you?” Marinette said with a smirk.

“No. Of course not,” Adrien lied.

“Well, you’ll have lots of time to learn,” she said. “Since apparently everyone thinks we’re getting married.”

“I’m okay with that,” Adrien said, looking at her seriously. And god, it was so hard not to melt when he did that.

“Me too,” Marinette said when she could speak without squealing. “But let’s have dessert first.” She grinned at him and he grinned back.


	30. I’m with you, you know that

After dessert, which, to Adrien’s delight, turned out to be heart-shaped choux à la crème, Marinette brought Adrien up to her room. She breathed a sigh of relief as she let the door fall shut behind them. Dinner had actually gone better than she thought it would, but that didn’t mean her parents weren’t a little overbearing sometimes. It was nice to have a moment for the two of them.

“That was fun,” Adrien said, smiling widely as he took a seat on her chaise.

“Of course it was fun for you. If we don’t get married, I think they plan to adopt you,” Marinette replied, and honestly she was only half-joking.

“I’d rather marry you, but honestly I’d be okay with either option,” Adrien said. His smile faded. “Your table… it’s so warm. So inviting. I’ve always thought that way, ever since I came here as Chat Noir. When I eat at my house, I eat alone.” He looked down as he spoke, his shoulders slumping.

“Oh, _mon minou_…” Marinette walked over to him and sat beside him, looping their arms together and leaning into his side. “I’m sorry. You’re always welcome at our table. Maman and Papa would be over the moon if you showed up for supper every night.”

“I might just take you up on that,” Adrien said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Please do,” Marinette said. She hesitated, wondering if now was the time to bring up her gift for him, and finally decided that it was. She bent forward, groping around beneath the chaise until she found the box.

Adrien was watching her curiously as she straightened up. His eyes landed on the box and immediately gleamed with curiosity. Out of all the Miraculous traits he could’ve received from Plagg, a cat’s curiosity was definitely up there on the list. She’d figured out a long time ago that one of the best ways to torture Chat was to bring a pastry box on patrol but not let him open it right away.

“What’s that?” Adrien asked, crinkling his nose.

“It’s for you, so why don’t you open it and see?” Marinette said, setting the box on his lap.

“For me? Why? I didn’t get you anything!” Adrien looked slightly panicked.

Marinette chuckled. “Did you forget about those lovely flowers already?” she teased. “Besides, you_ already_ got me something else too. Consider this my form of payback.”

“Something else?” Adrien’s eyebrows furrowed, and he looked back down at the box. He slowly pried the lid up and then just… sat there, staring down at the hoodie in shocked silence.

“Yup. Remember that fabric you bought me on our first date? I decided to make you something as a thank you. Sorry it took so long for me to get it done,” Marinette said. “It ended up being a little more complicated than I - eek!” 

She yelped in surprise as Adrien suddenly threw himself on her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pressing his face to her chest. He nearly knocked the box off his lap in the process; Marinette saved it just in time, grabbing the box with one hand and patting her kitty’s back with the other. Over Adrien’s shoulder, she caught a glimpse of Plagg and Tikki watching them solemnly.

“You _made_ me something… Mari, thank you,” Adrien said, voice muffled but shaky.

“You’re welcome, but it’s really not that big of a deal,” Marinette said gently. “You’re my partner. Of course I made something for you.”

“But you put so much _time_ into it,” he said, gulping. “No one ever -” He cut himself off, but Marinette could fill in the blanks pretty easily.

Fucking Gabriel Agreste.

“It’s because I love you. You’re more than worth my time, _Chaton_,” Marinette whispered.

His grip tightened. “I love you too.” It seemed to be the only thing he could choke out, but it was more than enough.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes while Adrien composed himself, until he sat up and, after discretely wiping his eyes, took the hoodie out of the box. The delighted smile that broke out across his face made Marinette’s heart flutter. She couldn’t help smiling back as he touched the kitty ears, laughed at the pun, and then beamed at the pawprints and ladybug on the back.

“This is amazing!” Adrien gushed, standing up. He immediately pulled the hoodie on. It was a little big around his shoulders, but Marinette had designed it that way on purpose. She was almost positive that Adrien was going to have another growth spurt, and she didn’t want him to grow out of it.

Plagg guffawed when Adrien pulled the hood up and he saw the kitty ears. “Looking good, Kid.”

“Right?” Adrien grinned. “Thank you so much, My Lady.”

“You’re welcome,” Marinette said, pleased with how happy he was. “While we’re at it… I made your scarf too.”

“My what?” Adrien turned to her, puzzled.

“Your blue scarf. The one you got for your birthday a couple years ago? That was me, not your dad,” Marinette said. She no longer felt right about letting Adrien think the gift had come from his father. In retrospect, she should’ve told him the truth from day one. It wasn’t fair to let Adrien think Gabriel cared more than his father really did.

Adrien stared at her. “What… seriously? Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“I was too embarrassed,” Marinette admitted. “It’s a long story… but you looked so happy when you thought it came from him. Now that I know you better, I knew you’d want to know the truth.”

“I… wow. That… that makes so much more sense. I should’ve known that didn’t come from him,” Adrien muttered. “Seems I have to thank you twice.”

“Seeing you wear my clothing is all the thanks I need,” Marinette told him. “That, and knowing you’ll be there with me Monday morning when I have to walk into school and face everyone, including Lila.”

“I’m with you, you know that,” Adrien said instantly, turning to her and taking her hands in his. “I’ll Cataclysm that bitch before I let her say anything else to you.”

“Adrien!” Marinette giggled in spite of herself.

“I mean it,” Adrien said fiercely.

“Actually, so do I,” Plagg chimed in, flying over to Adrien. “If the kid can’t bring himself to do it, I will.” He crawled into the hoodie and made a pleased sound when he discovered the inside pocket.

“_No one_ is Cataclysming _anyone_,” Tikki said, exasperated.

“Spoilsport,” Adrien and Plagg said in perfect unison.

Marinette laughed again. “Plagg, stop corrupting my boyfriend,” she said, wrapping her arms around Adrien’s waist and snuggling into him.

Plagg poked his head back out, face inches from Marinette’s. He smirked at her. “Corrupting, or making better?”

“Maybe a little from column A, a little from column B?” Marinette said thoughtfully.

“Hey!” Adrien protested, clearly trying to keep his amusement under control, and Marinette, Plagg and Tikki all broke out into laughter.


	31. Scared, me?

For once on a Monday morning, Marinette had no problem getting out of bed. A weird combination of nerves and excitement had kept her awake for most of the night, so that she actually gave up and got up ten whole minutes before her alarm went off.

She methodically did her make-up and hair, then got dressed in black jeans, a red blouse and red flats. Tikki patted her on the shoulder comfortingly before she disappeared into Marinette’s purse. Marinette squared her shoulders, nodded at her reflection, and walked downstairs.

“Have a good day, honey,” Sabine said, passing Marinette a bag. “Here, those are for you and Adrien.”

“Thanks Maman.” Marinette kissed her maman goodbye and left, slipping the bag into her backpack. They had no idea that she was unaccountably nervous about today, and frankly Marinette didn’t really want them to know. Hopefully the Lila problem was going to be a non-issue from now on, and she would never have to tell her parents the truth.

As promised, Adrien was already waiting outside the bakery doors. He took one look at her face and silently held his arms out. Marinette instantly slipped into his embrace, laying her head on his chest. She was _so_ grateful for his presence. It wouldn’t be nearly as hard to walk into school with Adrien at her side as it would be if she was alone.

“Scared?” Adrien asked her quietly as she reluctantly stepped back.

“Scared, me?” Marinette tried to laugh. It came out way too shaky to be believable and she ended up sighing. “Terrified.”

Adrien kissed her cheek and took her hand, intertwining their fingers. “It’ll be okay, Bugaboo. I really, truly believe that.”

“Thanks. Your hoodie looks great, by the way. What did your dad think?” Marinette asked, plucking at his sleeve.

“He made the face. You know, that ‘I can’t believe my son is daring to wear that’ face. So before he could say a single word, I told him it was a gift from you.” Adrien smirked as they started walking. “He looked like he’d swallowed a lemon, but he didn’t say a word after that.”

“Why did the fact that it was from me matter?” Marinette said, astonished.

“My father thinks very highly of your work,” Adrien told her.

Marinette frowned to herself. At one time, that information would’ve made her whole day. She’d adored Gabriel Agreste’s work for a long time, and she’d even harbored dreams of someday becoming a _Gabriel _intern. But now, knowing exactly what kind of man Gabriel was, she couldn’t find it in herself to be excited about that.

“I guess whatever it takes to keep him quiet and off your back,” she said instead, giving Adrien a smile as they crossed the street. Her nerves returned as they approached the gates, and Adrien squeezed her hand tightly.

They walked inside. For some reason, Marinette was expecting to be accosted immediately. But, aside from a few girls looking admiringly in Adrien’s direction, no one paid them any attention. Though she had to admit that could’ve been because they were about twenty minutes early. She actually couldn’t remember the last time she’d been to school this early, but it had definitely been way before she became Ladybug.

“Let’s go to the classroom,” Adrien suggested.

“Great idea. Maman gave me some pastries for us,” Marinette said.

“_Pastries_? Seriously?” Adrien’s eyes lit up and he started moving faster, practically dragging her up the steps. Marinette just giggled.

The classroom was empty at this time of day. Adrien sat down in his usual spot in the front row, dragging Marinette down beside him, and watched her with such an excited, anticipatory gaze that she couldn’t even be mad. She just rolled her eyes and fetched the bag from her backpack, opening it up to reveal half a dozen croissants.

“Help yourself, _Chaton_,” she said.

Adrien obeyed, grabbing a croissant and eagerly biting into it. “Heaven,” he sighed.

Marinette watched him, amused. “Okay, serious question. Are you gonna marry me for _me_, or for access to my parent’s pastries?”

Adrien froze midway through his second bite. “Uh… both?” he said through a mouthful of croissant.

“That’s what I thought.” She shook her head fondly and picked up a croissant for herself.

“I love you,” Adrien said, swallowing hard.

“Are you talking to me or the croissant?” she asked dryly.

He playfully flicked a piece of pastry at her. “You!”

“Just checking.” She grinned at him and finished her croissant, marvelling over how just spending some time with her kitty could make her feel so much better.

Unfortunately, those contented feelings quickly died away when the door opened and their classmates started coming in. None of them would look at her, and Marinette’s heart sank. Only Alya and Nino gave her a smile, and Nino even motioned for her to stay where she was and went behind them to sit beside Nino.

Once everyone, minus Chloé and Sabrina, was there, Alya cleared her throat. “Okay, on the count of three. One, two, three!”

“We’re sorry, Marinette,” everyone, except for Adrien and Marinette, said in perfect unison.

Marinette’s jaw dropped.

“We should’ve believed you about Lila,” Alix added.

“I still can’t believe she was lying to us all this time,” Kim said.

“_I _can’t believe she won’t be able to introduce me to any famous comic book artists,” Nathaniel said forlornly.

Alya sighed. “Or to any famous journalists.”

“Or to any music producers… but that’s not what matters. The point is, we were _stupid_ to take Lila’s word over yours,” Nino said, turning back to Marinette. “You’re our class president. We chose you for a reason.”

“Everyone…” Marinette’s eyes filled with tears in spite of her best efforts. Adrien took her hand again. When she glanced over at him, he was angling at her.

“I hope you can forgive us,” Rose said, looking a little teary herself.

“I’m also sorry for volunteering you to sit at the back,” Alya added. “That was crappy of me. I should’ve asked you first.”

“Me too,” Nino said with a nod. “Sitting next to my girlfriend is great, but this is _your_ seat. Most of the time, anyway. Now that you’re with my bro, we might have to work out a timeshare.” He winked at her and Marinette gave him a wobbly smile.

“And what about Lila?” Adrien asked, seemingly realizing that Marinette needed a few seconds to compose herself. She was grateful he had asked, because she wasn’t sure she could get the question out on her own.

“Didn’t you hear?” Alix said.

“Hear what?” Adrien said.

“Lila’s parents sent her out of Paris like two hours after that akuma attack footage hit the news,” Max said.

“From what I heard, she’s in Italy with relatives,” Mylène added.

“Wait, so you mean I _never_ have to see her again?” Marinette blurted out.

“Nope. Sorry, I thought you knew,” Alya said. “It was all over Facebook.”

“I… I guess I haven’t really looked,” Marinette said, baffled. Not since checking her Facebook right she got home that night. She’d be so preoccupied with figuring out that Adrien was Chat, and then with trying to make up with Alya, that it hadn’t even crossed her mind.

“Guess that explains why Lila didn’t get akumatized,” Adrien said quietly, glancing at Marinette. “She was out of Hawkmoth’s reach.”

“Good,” Alya said bluntly. “I think all of us are okay with not seeing that girl again, much less an akumatized version of her.”

Alya didn’t know how right she was. Hearing that Lila was gone was like a huge weight off of Marinette’s shoulders. She didn’t even care _why_Lila was gone, whether it was because Lila’s parents had been trying to protect her or whether they’d been trying to protect Paris from Lila. All that mattered was that, at least for the foreseeable future, she didn’t have to worry about Lila Rossi.

She glanced up and realized that the whole class was staring at her expectantly, waiting for her to say something. Well, Alya wasn’t. She already knew where she stood with Marinette. And of course, Adrien’s expression was entirely soft and encouraging. He squeezed her hand and she immediately felt bolstered.

“It’ll take some time,” Marinette said slowly. “But I think we’ll be okay.”

“That’s fair,” Alya said instantly, giving her a smile.

Nino nodded. “We can’t ask for anything other than that, Dude.”

“We’re just so glad you’re willing to forgive us at all!” Rose exclaimed, jumping out of her seat. She scurried over to hug Marinette. It only took a couple of seconds for Alya to join them, followed by Alix, Mylène and Juleka. Marinette heard Adrien’s startled laugh as he was unwittingly folded into the hug too, by virtue of the fact that he wouldn’t let go of Marinette’s hand.

Marinette smiled and let out a laugh too from where she was buried under her giggling friends, and realized that it had been _months_ she last felt this happy. Finally, everything seemed like it was gonna be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, this story and Fictober are officially complete. Thank you so much for the comments and kudos! This story was so much fun to write, and I hope you all loved it too.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com).


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